GST - Will the Real Traitors Stand Up?

Najib Admits Nation may go Bankrupt.

The truth is out and it has exposed the lies that were told before the last General Elections have now come out in the open b an open admission from the Prime Minster himself.

As Anwar went on his rounds showing people the poor  financial performance of the nation under the various finance minister after he left (including the worst Finance Minster this nation has ever had, leave alone being the worst Prime - Minister Najib Abdul Razak) the PM  and his  bunch of idiots were denying it saying we still remain above water and our financial situation is strong.

Extravagance

 Money was splashed out for the last General elections like there was no tomorrow,  millions were thrown into Penang to try and unseat Lim Guan Eng but all failed, Muhyiddin was saying the government will increase BRIM to RM1,000 if they win as there was a lot in the coffers,  and now we are told by the Prime Minsiter himself that it is either GST or Bankruptcy.

Whilst he tells uss that he is the only PM who has never during his tenure as PM gone out of the country on MAS preferring to fly in a single private plane for those purposes which  cost the rakyat millions and millions of ringgit.

The effects on the ordinary man

This government is not only going Bankrupt it is bankrupt of ideas and the only way it sees out is to tax the ordinary man, the man on the street. GST or an additional 6 percent for goods and services is a huge amount to the ordinary worker, most of whom do not even make that amount on their annual increments and whilst this government is sanctioning the hike in price of essential commodities.

Even the meager 900 ringgit minimum wage cannot be enforced, Chau Soil Lek - one of the most confounded idiots in the BN and the "Head of the MCA" has often said he will fight the minimum wage set at RM900 and even to this day there are many employers who have not implemented this ruling, and this same Chua Soi Lek is coy to the idea of GST implementation.

Most Malaysian workers make less that 6 percent annual increment, so how are these "traitors" going to cope with paying the GST.

The minimum wage  ruling  which was to come into effect in 2013 will come into effect  hopefully on the January 1, 2014 the date set by the Ministry of Human Resources and that will bring to nought the increase these workers make by the implementation of the GST.

If this happens (the implementation of the minimum wage) and if it is enforced throughout the nation then the Malaysian workers whose salary is below RM900 will have their salaries adjusted to RM900 or so we are led to believe,most Malaysians do not believe this government will able to implement this ruling. It will only mean more unemployed Malaysian workers because employers have a choice to employ non citizens( foreign workers) for less then the stipulated minimum wage.

We'll have  to pay 6 percent on electricity and water bills, we'll have to pay 6 percent on household essentials we purchase, we'll have to pay 6 percent when we go to the Doctor, the Dentist , the optician, the pharmacist, we'll have to pay 6 percent even when we buy our underwear and for our coffins and the grave and the service of the undertaker, and all this so we do not go Bankrupt.

Will our six per cent really save us from Bankruptcy, think and think hard, Najib Tun Razak, if you have the capacity to think in the first place.

 This country has scaled up the heights to become one of the most corrupt nations in the world, and it is this corruption that will lead us to bankruptcy, I hope some of the idiots and opportunists who call themselves nationalists - the  ordinary UMNO members will see this and come to some realisation and pursue these issues, those who see it and refuse to do anything about it are the real traitors.

Whilst we go on paying this 6 percent and continue feeding the corrupt of this nation which of course includes the cronies, this  nation wll continue to be bled financially and GST or no GST we'll go Bankrupt.

We have seen how the corrupt in high places are protected, we see how their masters come to court, people who do not remember things that go against their case and give such eloquent witness for their political 'slaves."

Najib and his government has done absolutely nothing to go after corrupt  in the country. It is not the people they are out to serve, but heir own selfish selves.

Take the Selangor Water Concessionaires as and example, the billions that the Selangor State Government is being forced to pay to take back after all what is its own. The water resources of the State of Selangor belong to the people of Selangor and not some band of  Federal  Government appointed cronies.

The reports of the Auditor General are scorned, the PM scorns the report by not giving the due credit it requires, he must be seen to be cleaning up what has now become habitual corrupt pracitces in the government service, year in year out.

The son of the Prime Minister has become a Millionaire even before beginning to  work and one wonders why, I am told it is from the pocket money his father gave him, but how did his father become so rich, did he inherit that from his father the late Tun Razak?

Well I remember that whilst Najib was the Menteri Besar of Pahang and just before ops lallang Kit Siang kept asking in Parliament about a 30 million ringgit timber concession given to a person whose address was a low cost house in Pahang. That question was never answered, Kit Siang was detained under the ISA and the rest became history. Could there have been more timber concessions?

Well we'll also have to consider that Rosma was part owner of the Consultancy that provided consultancy services to the Ministry of Defence to by Submarines and there is a lot of money there gone unaccounted for.

Rosamh a defence consultant? Well that is not hard to believe, if she has the ability to have twisted the then Defence Minister with her little finger, why not?


Even today she is accorded Prime ministerial status, she is flying around like a roving ambassadress giving speeches in lofty circles, speeches I am told she herself does not understand.

To try and justify her trips she is accompanied by other members of Parliament, and they even take a break to shop at Dubai, whilst those who oppose the  6 percent GST are branded "traitors," by her beloved husband.

Then there is the  Shah Alam Hospital will we ever live to see the day that hospital is completed and operational, and ease the unnecessary congestion in the Klang General Hospital, the rakyat are being burdened again to pay for this hospital after the initial sums went up in holy smoke.

 Nepotism, Cronyism and Corruption the main contributors

 What Najib has to address is what brought us to this situation?

The answer plain and simple is corruption, nepotism and cronyism, but that  may sound little  clichesish if I can use the term.

Nepotism and Cronyism are totally counter productive, so too is corruption. When the jobs are not given to  the best but farmed out to cronies  who do not even have an inkling of what it is all about it is bound to be disastrous, and at the end of the day it is the rakyat who have to foot the bill, and today this same rakyat are being branded 'Traitors" for opposing the GST and the GST is being put iin place because this government allowed our money to be squandered most often by their own people.

The PKFZ is one shining example, there is the case our Perwaja and the BBMB scandal, there are the bailouts of government appointed cronies that has cost the rakyat millions and yet these cronies remain millionaires whilst he rakyat have to pay GST, or the nation will go bankrupt.

We've heard of the son of one of our foremost leaders who contemplated suicide when he was refused to be bailed out by Anwar following the 1997 financial crisis, and if that was true that man is Billionaire today by any measure.

All these people who have led companies and failed and rendered them almost bankrupt remain among the elite bunch of millionaires in the country, how nice after spending our money after making he businesses they were entrusted to run and manage go bust, they become millionaires.

How come a country on the verge of Bankruptcy is one of the most important markets for cars like the Lamborghini, (http://motoring.malaysia.msn.com/lamborghini-aventador-roadster-launched-in-malaysia) and even the Ferrari, these cars come with price tags that go up in the millions of ringgit.

Take a look around  whilst the ordinary man on the street is being asked to come out with six percent of his meager earnings  for GST, the Rich and famous many who have become rich via cronyism nepotism and corruption enjoy untold luxuries at the expense of the poor, many if not most  whose wages have yet to reach RM900 peer month.

Monopolies like sugar trade, and Electricity supply to homes have rendered Companies less productive but with the help of the government regulate prices they remain among eh best business performers and how? Simple just pass he bill to the customer.

Tenaga even had the audacity to change electric meters telling consumers that the  old meters were reading wrongly and even when it was reading  wrongly they  were making huge profits now even more with the new Meters.

It is no secret that Members of Parliament and State Assembly members who cross over are paid in the millions, who pays for this, even if it is BN friendly corporations owned by cronies the burden eventually falls back on the ordinary man who is now being threatened to be classified a "traitor,." if he opposes this bill.

Take Back our Coutry

Traitors are those who close a blind eye to corruption, cronyism and nepotism just to enrich  that select few and suffer the rakyat and so let us fight the real traitors and bring our country back to where it belongs from the brink of Bankruptcy where it really is today by the admission of Najib Tun Razak himself.

Be there when the opposition  organises this mass protest against the GST.

Typical - Chuah Soi Lek, Typical Liow Tiong Lai - Typically MCA

How typical can it get, the power struggle has begun, it is time to tell the dhoby to get to the streets and  to wash all the dirty linen there  so that the public can  get a closer look at that dirty underwear, the soiled sheets etc, and that is the MCA story being retold.

It is time to claim the big prize - the opportunity to be,  "the big running dog of UMNO" and it is there for the the taking.

Liow was so sure it was his,  he assumed that he was the anointed successor especially after joining forces with Chuah to oust Ong Tee Keat at an extraordinary meeting mooted bey certain ex MCA top guns to shield themselves from being properly and honestly prosecuted for the PKFZ case, a case in which Najib had to step in to remove Ong's involvement.

All Ong was trying to do was to re establish MCA's integrity which had gone to shambles after the PKFZ scandal, the Chuah Soi Lek scandal and so many other MCA wrong doings, he was attempting to clean up the MCA image, but that was a little too dangerous for the MCA and so all hell broke loosethey made sure the fixed it and Ong was deposed.

Ong on the other hand does command a good following and if there is a split between these two he could  seriously mount another challenge on the MCA leadership although the better choice would be for him to leave racial politics and go to one of the established opposition parties,but he is not game for that he too is typically MCA and is watching how the game unfolds holding his cards clsoe to hsi chest, he is probably trying a Deng Xiaoping.

Tengku Adnan only very recently said that UMNO should "help" the BN Chinese parties. The word help has many connotations in this respect, help bring it even more firmly undr UMNO's grip so that they can use it to undermine Chinese interests and when they loose the elections blame MCA and the Chinese for that loss. UMNO seems to be losing its grip on this bunch of desperadoes, so before they fallout of line they have to be brought under control, less in the process of washing dirty linen they expose UMNO

Chuah Soi Lek on the other hand has no intention of relinquishing the Presidency, he wants it and like Mahathir is now grooming his son to be the successor, and to do that he is using the party's political organ the notorious daily that is the propaganda machine of the MCA to even now whack the government.

If you read the headlines in that daily, you'll be surprised because it was this daily that was spinning half truths about the opposition during the last elections and glorifying the BN as an efficient and trustworthy government, but  now its front page can even put Malaysiakini to shame read the edition of 2nd October.

Chuah is now tryign his level best to look like a Chinese champion and who in MCA would  not want to? Evey MCA leader left the MCA loaded, and yet we do not know how, the only thing we can suspect is Chuah has not had enough time to dwindle his finger in the pie and desperately wants the full  opportunity to do so.

He has done a 360 in that he is now agreeing to allow the MCA parliamentarians accept ministerial positions, in that respect we should wait and see what his son gets that is if  if he still remains  the head. The 360 according to the Liow camp was because he held on firmly to positions like that of Chairman of the PPC and other positions whilst taking others to task, now that that question has arisen and that he is keen to hold on to his positions is doing a 360.

Liow in the meantime is garnering a lot of grassroots support, it is no secret that Chuah's image after his famous VCD scandal and the way he unseated Ong Tee Keat had been drastically hurt with the majority of the Chinese in the country, he lost his credibility when as the President of the party he was not even given a seat to contest and found a lot of excuses for that desperately trying to pull wool over the eyes of the electorate and when he tried that with the Chinese it was enough, they had enough he was trying to  make them look like fools and they would not want any of it.

Liow was  the trumpeter at the last elections, he was blowing so loud he drowned all the voices against his boss the president, he was seen as a perfect deputy and all only because he was waiting  for the Presidency it was going to him, a sure ticket, he was almost the anointed successor but alas it was not meant to be so, and Chuah is now trying desperately to unseat him and his challenge and knowing the way the BN and its components work it may be just possible.

The question is will Chuah use the EGM to make MCA illegal, a typical BN trick created by Mahathir, then we'll have an "MCA Baru" and that will add another twist. Watch that as that is a possible move according to some MCA neutrals, as they claim that it now looks like the EGM will work against Chuah.

Taking a look at what MCA is offering its members, one wonders if the MCA membership is actually that daft. After having completely lost Chinese support as was witnessed during the last elections can the MCA members really go for what is nothing more than a Hobson's Choice, what choice is there between the two anyway?

However the membership just like the UMNO membership and the MIC membership will play  "follow the leader, " to rock the boat means you are out, everyone who opposes the leadership does so at his/her  own peril, the losers loose all, and the winner takes all, all sides in MCA will go for broke, that is the name of the game, and in these parties the leadership has the advantage so there is the inclination for those who even have no faith in the President to stand by him in the hope of being rewarded.

Anyone of the two succeeding, will only result in a weaker MCA the decline will only get stronger after the next Kung Fu fight, the winner will take all, and that all will not be as much as his predecessors have taken as MCA is now nothing but a toothless Tiger, aged,  beaten paw less completely fatigued just awaiting death which lingers on its corridors, and to compound that  the majority of the Chinese in this country are just fanning the flames to have this institution cremated even before it dies off completely spells nothing but doom.

Then again who is thinking of dying, even in the deathbed  the President and his deputy have begun engaging in a deadly Kung Fu Fight, where even the victor will eventually and in the not too distant future succumb to his wounds and die.

Tragic? "No!!!" shouts Chin Peng (not the late Chin Peng but a Malaysian professional), we'll cut Chicken and Burst crackers, we have been at it for some time now as we have been celebrating this timely and yet delayed process of the death of racial politics in this country.

It's our Merdeka day and I am back

Yes in 1957, it may sound like an old broken record, but I have to tell the story, I was there at the tender age of 8 in my Cub (what we call Junior Scouts today) uniform, in the wee hours of the morning, there meaning the Klang Padang, to attend the Merdeka Parade.

I remember Mr. Jolly Cho the District Commissioner of the Boy Scout movement was there, I remember that was the first time I met his sons, one my age and a Club, and the other older than me, they were from the ACS in Klang which at that time had two troops the 1st Klang, and the 5th Klang and I was from the 9th Klang coming from La Salle Klang.

I was there, I was prepared as scouts had always to be, and I came knowing how to sing the Negara Ku, I wonder if Najib knew it, and I really wonder if even that slimy character Mahathir Mohammed knew to sing at that time days before Merdeka, yes I knew the song before Merdeka day on the 31st of August 1957 and I am proud of that I knew it and I sang it then on the 31st of August 1957, and I saluted our flag when it was raised for the first time in Klang, it was a grand occasion.

Now today my blog carries another article written by my good friend Howl Pillay and I suggest you read it, it speaks about our attitude and the "Prince's Toilet,"  you may be wondering what I am talking about but you'll have to read it to understand it.

On this day the 31st of August 2013 I'd like to wish  all Malaysians a Selamat Hari Merdeka,  I'd like all of you to take some time to ponder and see if we still have our independence,  or if a group of bandits came in and actually stole the Merdeka of 1957 and 1963, we proclaimed on 31st August 1957, and 16th September 1963 when we became Malaysia from us and are now behaving worse than the colonialists of the past.

These bandits even stole UMNO, called it UMNO Baru and the founder of that party who now claims it is UMNO has been trying from the day he took office as Prime Minister to wipe out the legacy of our beloved Bapa Malaysia, Tengku Abdul Rahman to the the extent that he had even once suggested the building of a new parliament house, the tearing down of Merdeka Stadium, and during  his terms of office the Merdeka Football Tournament went forgotten. The Merdeka Tournament the brainchild of the late Tengku was  once the unofficial Asian Championships,  and during those times we were equals to South Korea, Japan were nobodies  in soccer and look at us today, that alone will tell you how he was bent on destroying that legacy of our independence and was and is even today setting the stage to have himself proclaimed as the "Bapa Malaysia" and the founder of UMNO, which  is because the UMNO we have today is not the UMNO of old it is the UMNO Baru formed by him after UMNO was declared illegal. it will least surprise anyone if he gts the country to declare him the founding father of Malaysia.

The nationalistic songs like "Gunakan Lah Bahasa kebangsaan kita" if you remember it go through the lyrics and you'll know why he took it out, because it did not sing of "mari lah mari orang UMNO Baru" but "Mari lah mari rakyat semua, " this man because of his hate campaigns agaisnt people of other races and his campaigns to get Malays to hate people of other races has been the architect of the creation of right wing groups like Perkasa an swe all know that.

Luckily for us we have the majority of Malays in this country who are not with him, who do not buy into his hate campaigns and that is why in the last elections for the first time in the history of this countrry the BN lost the popular vote, it was not  the Chinese who cause that it was Malaysians and a huge number of Malays too and we all knwo that , it was Malaysians who decided we had had enough and the UMNOputras .

Today the cinemas in the nation are being asked to film Tandas Putra, it has to be filmed because the son of the man who was the cause for May 13th is intent of removing   the blemishes on the name of his father.

In this effort he has the tacit backing of none other than Mahathir Mohammed, the man who was the architect of may 13th,  the man who incited racial hatred with the ultras of the time, the man who hated the Chinese and showed them that in 1969, the man who in 1969 was defeated in the elections by my friend Yousof Rawa.

Read my good friend Howl Pillay today and he will tell you where we are being led.

This Merdeka let us resolve to be united as one people, and not think of ourselves as Orang Asli, Dayak, Kadazan,  Indians Chinese or Malays etc  first but as Malaysians first and let us resovle to fight the evils of Mahathirsm and wipe it out of this nation once and for all.

MERDEKA!!!!!!

This Merdeka

 By Howl Pillay

I have never been more fearful than this Merdeka.

The nation celebrates its fifty-sixth birthday and a month ago I celebrated my fifty ninth.

Context: Born - 1954; Kewarganegaraan - Malaysia; Keturunan - India; Agama - Belum diIslamkan.

But to be fair, the authorities have never hauled me up for “Insulting Islam”. Why should I even think of doing it?

Yes, why should I, when legions of salafists, takfiris and the other ‘mightily misguided’ believers in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan insult the faith on a daily basis by inflicting unending violence against innocent fathers, mothers, children and infants. Even in the month of Ramadan, last month.

We should all be thankful we have kept our distance thus far from this unholy crowd for whom even their fellow believers are fair game. But Comrades, be ever vigilant! The road to Cairo, Mogadishu, Baghdad and Damascus passes through the school toilet of SK Pristina. One day they may make even a movie, “Tandas Pristina”.

And though fearful of developments closer to home, I know someone up there is looking out for me. I thank my lucky stars. And my prescience.

Ten years ago, taking heed of a management guru’s line of ‘differentiate or die’, I considered choosing the following email address: pillai04@gmail.com to incorporate the year of my birth.

But something held me back. It was a gut feeling I could not pin down. It did not seem to have the proper effect. Besides in the Cantonese “four” is associated with death. But I wasn’t one to give up easily. As I was born on the 17 July, I toyed with pillai0804@gmail.com. Eventually I chose another email address.  

And it was all for the better! Who knows I could have spent this Merdeka in a cold cell, bruised and black-eyed ala Saudara Anwar. What! you say incredulously. Why not? An Indian somehow associated with both the “04 Gang” and the “08 Gang” will surely be beaten up to within an inch of his life.

Yet others may say: “Don’t be ridiculous!”.

But believe me, these days you can never tell what the country or the cops are up to.

Bad weather may be good for inter religous activities and appreciation

In the Vatican the Muslims have a mosque the Church  allowed the Muslims to build a mosque there without asking them to reciprocate by offering us a Church in Mecca.

Now with all the fuss about the Buddhist in the Surau, I wonder if the Muslims who have made such a hue and cry about the whole issue, and the authorities who have said it woudl be torn down after the case has been closed are really aware of what they are doing.

Some years back in Klang in the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes the Parish Priest of the time offered the Church community hall to some Bangladeshis who could not find a place too pray, the Bangla's were all Muslims and they knew just like most people including most Muslims that is alright to pray almost anywhere respectful.

What is wring if the Buddhist prayed in the Surau of a hotel with the owners consent? What wrong did the owner a Muslim himself do?

Take a look at what happened in India, the article below tells us exactly what the Sikhs in India did for the Muslims, if Muslims can pray in a Church hall a Gurduwara, a Catholic house as one MS Ally used to do in my house when he used to visit my late father in the later fifties at our home which was adorned with Holy holy pictures all around, this pious Muslim man used to prostrate towards the direction of Mecca and dutifully pray if it was prayer time when he visited.

Now the present noise by some people mainly of course from the UMNO camp only goes to show that this UMNO led rhetoric has led many Muslims in this country to just about blindly make senseless accusations and I hope I am right because if I am wrong than I am sure most non Muslims in this country will be afraid of Islam, is this the aim?

From the Allah issue which is actually a non issue in every other Muslim Nation some Muslims have made an issue with God. It is sad indeed, and very sad. In Bangladesh, in Pakistan, in Indonesia Christians have been praying to Allah who is Almighty God. In Malaysia it has been done since the 16th century and now suddenly this reference to God as Allah which predates even Islam has become a copyright of some Muslims in Malaysia.

 

In bad weather, Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus make good friends

Subodh Varma, TNN Aug 22, 2012, 02.40PM IST

Tags:

• Uttarakhand|
• namaaz in gurdwara|
• mutual love and friendship|
• Muslim Community|
• Joshimath|
• Hemkunt Sahib|
• Garhwal Himalayas|
• Gandhi Maidan|
• Badrinath

• 

(Muslim residents of Joshimath…)

NEW DELHI: In a country where religious intolerance and communal hatred dominate the news nowadays, here is something that goes to show that all is not rotten and ugly.
Muslim residents of Joshimath in Uttarakhand offered Eid namaaz (prayers) on Monday in a gurdwara (Sikh temple), after being invited in by its head priest, according to the local media. There is no mosque or idgah in Joshimath, a town perched above the Alakhnanda deep in the Garhwal Himalayas. Usually its 800-odd Muslim residents offer namaaz at the town's Gandhi Maidan, a public ground.

, a public group.

On Monday, however, Gandhi maidan had turned into slush. It had been raining heavily for several days and Eid, the festival day too dawned in a downpour. The Muslim community was struggling with the problem when the head of the local gurdwara sent a heart warming message to them- The Muslims could use the main hall of the gurdwara for offering namaaz.
So, at 9:30am, the congregation of Muslims in bright new clothes trooped down to the gurdwara and offered the ritual prayers in the big hall. After the ceremony, they embraced the Sikh community members waiting outside the hall. Some Hindus from the town were present too and offered greetings to the other two communities.
Sardar Buta Singh, Prabandhak of the gurdwara, later told media persons that he had extended the invitation to the Muslims to help them in their crisis.
Maulvi Asif was quoted by media as saying that by solving their problem, the gurdwara committee had presented an example of humanity and respect towards all religions. He said that the Muslim community was thankful to the committee.
Joshimath is located about 250 kilometers from Rishikesh on National Highway 58. It is close to two important pilgrimage centers - Badrinath of the Hindus and Hemkunt Sahib of the Sikhs.

“Recognize Sabah as Nation...." Jeffrey Kitingan

The following is taken from the Press release sent to the press and to this blog by the State Reform Party of Sabah (STAR) it is the Statement of the Chairman of the party Mr. Jeffrey Kitingan.

The anger of the people of Sabah and for that matter East Malaysia is getting stronger, the Federal government together with its lackeys the BN MP's are actually promoting ignorance to the people of Sabah, Sarawak and even West Malaysia so that they can go on and do as they please and feed untruths and half truths to these ignorant people to stay on in power.

Development has long bypassed the two Eastern states and even Kelantan, to this day Sabah and Sarawak lack proper infrastructure, roads highways and even schools, they schools which they even dare to show as part of their propaganda campaign reveal the degree of underdevelopment in these states. 

Money that shoudl have gone into development fro the people haws been squandered in grand palns that enriched the lackeys of the BN, they have treated land and other property as their own, loans to BN parliamentarians and their spouses for dubious businesses, and commissions by fronting Companies owned jointly by ministers and even their spouses  in mega deals  to purchase armaments, including submarines and the rest are common place. Nothing has been spent in real development  in these states.

Even though these states provide the the Barisan their victories in the Peninsular, no significant minster has come out of these states. When Jeffry Kitingan once asked Mahathir when a Sabahan would become Prime Minister the mamak ran wild and mad. We came together in 1963 to date we are yet to see a Prime Minister or even a deputy Prime Minster from that state, they are Bumiputeras too, are there criteria to exclude these bumiputera?

it is high time the people of the East realised it and realised that their interests are not at all being served by the barisan Government, the few that have realised it feel its time to even part company, because some of the fundamental parts of the initial agreement made between the Malaya and the States of Sabah and Sarawak have been unilaterally broken by the UMNO led government of Malaysia.

We attach Jeffery's statement below.

“Recognize Sabah as Nation for Better Security, Development - Jeffrey”

Kota Kinabalu:     “PM Najib must do more for Sabah and Sarawak and recognize both entities as nations in Malaysia and not just do piece-meal patching to resolve long standing security, development and welfare issues.  Just like patching up the pot-holes of the roads in Sabah, it will not be sustainable and will not resolve the problems in Sabah”said DatukDr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief, in response to the PM’s focus on the three aspects announced over the weekend in Kota Kinabalu.

The still on-going chronic shortage of diesel in Sabah is a very good example of piece-meal patch-work solution.  While the just announced request for an additional 8 million litres diesel quota may help clear the queues at petrol stations, it did not resolve the long term problem.

The Government’s own excuse of diesel smuggling just exposes the weaknesses of the inefficiency and shortcomings of ESSZONE and ESSCOM.  Theoretically, there should be no smuggling if the ESSZONE patrolling is effective.  If diesel can escape detection, one fears for the safety of Sabahans when it comes to illegals coming and going into Sabah.  

If the diesel shortage is due to additional demand arising from increased productivity and production, it should have been projected and adequate supplies provided to cover for the additional demand as the shortages is not new but a frequent occurrence.

The Sabah government and its leaders should emulate their cousins from Sarawak and reject verbal announcements by the Federal leaders and insist on written approvals.  More often than not, these announcements are nothing more than announcements when these federal leaders go back to Kuala Lumpur.  For example, after promising to build the Labuan bridge during the PRU-13 election campaign, the federal leaders are now singing a different tune that the BarisanNasional only promised to undertake a study into the feasibility and benefits of the Labuan bridge and did not actually promise to build it.  

If this is part of the “JanjiDiTepati” BN Manifesto, Sabah will remain and continue to remain the poorest State despite its abundant natural resources particular oil and gas.

The problems of under-development and welfare of Sabahans especially being the poorest in Malaysia needs an overhauled holistic approach.   The under-development and poor infrastructure and lack of basic amenities is compounded by the sheer size of Sabah, which is equivalent to the size of 9 States in the Peninsular, and the treatment of Sabah of a far-flung colony of Malaya and its resources and wealth taken back “home” to fund its development.

The PM must firstly recognize and help to strengthen the delivery capacity of the Sabah government and remember that Sabah is a nation in Malaysia and not equal to tiny Perlis (Sabah is 90 times the size of Perlis) or the other Peninsular states.

Along with this recognition, the Federal government must return 40% of the net revenues collected from Sabah and be transparent about these collections.   Revenues of Petronas, multi-national petroleum companies and other corporate entities which derive their profits from Sabah should be acknowledged as revenues from Sabah. 

Whether it is RM40 billion or RM4 billion collected a year, 40% of the net revenues should be returned to Sabah?  There are no excuses!  This additional revenue for the Sabah government will improve the economy of Sabah by leaps and bounds and help alleviate and reduce the poverty levels of the people.

The Federal BN government should stop holding the Sabah government and Sabahans to economic ransom and to be bought and used every 5 years come election time.   Sabahans must also wake up to face this reality and not accept RM200 bribes and BN’s “TangkiBiru 1-Malaysia” in return for their precious votes.

If Najib is serious and sincere in developing Sabah and helping Sabahans, he should dismantle the parallel “federal-linked” government in Sabah and return the governance of these departments and affairs to the Sabah government.  

At the same time, Najib should establish a high level Borneo Affairs Commission or a Sabah Sarawak Commission or even a Ministry to address the issues and problems in Sabah and Sarawak.

There can be no better time than 2013, which marks the 50th anniversary of the formation of Malaysia, which will go towards in a small way to fulfil the intentions of the founding fathers of Malaysia.

The MPs from Sabah and Sarawak also need to take the cue and demand that their homelands, Sabah and Sarawak, be treated fairly and justly by the Federal government in terms of development and welfare assistance and should no longer accept crumbs.  After all, someRM40 billion and RM18 billion in oil revenues were taken from Sarawak and Sabah respectively in 2012.

DatukDr.Jeffrey Kitingan

Chairman

STAR Sabah

28 July 2013