YB BARU BIAN’S SPEECH
DUN 14-23 MAY 2012
Mr Speaker,
Thank
you for giving me the opportunity to address this august House on the
occasion of debating the Motion of Appreciation, on the address of His
Excellency
the Governor of Sarawak given on 14th May 2012.
1.
DRUG ABUSE
I
would first like to bring up a matter, which is of grave concern, that
is, the scourge of drug abuse in Limbang and Lawas, which probably is a
reflection
of what is happening in other divisions of the State. In my visits to
these places, I have heard of many instances of youth being caught up in
drug addiction or what I call
“drug experimentation”, and the number of cases seems to be increasing. Many people have informed me that the drug
‘syabu’ is readily available, and can be bought freely even in
the vegetable market. It is packed in short strips of sealed up straw
and costs RM50 per strip. Shocking reports disclosed, even police
officers in Limbang were found to be drug abusers
(Borneo Post 26 March 2012). I have been informed that out of every 5 people, 1 has tried this drug.
This is an alarming statistic and should be a cause enough for all
those concerned to take note and conduct a thorough investigation. On my
visit
last week to Limbang, I was told of how a primary school student was
more involved in helping to stuff the drug into these straw strips and
selling them rather than doing his school work. I am sure this is just
the tip of the iceberg. This is a frightening
development and new discovery for me.
From
the website of the Anti-Drug Agency, the number of drug addicts
reported in Sarawak for the year 2011 was 267, an increase of 84.4% from
the 145 recorded
in 2010. This increase represents the second highest increase after the
state of Melaka, which recorded an increase of 123.86%.
The
Minister of Social Development stated recently that the problems of
drug addiction were not serious but the problems of drug abuse were
increasing from
585 cases in 2010 to 758 cases last year, (Sarawak Tribune 19 April 2012).
I am not sure what the difference between the two sets of problems is
but the use of drugs can only have deleterious effects, ranging from
absenteeism, reduced productivity and
petty crimes to violent crimes, social problems and moral degradation.
I
note that there is a proposal to conduct random drug tests in schools;
this is a welcome move. However, more needs to be done to prevent the
entry of
drugs into the state from neighbouring countries. The borders of
Limbang and Lawas with Brunei and Indonesia are said to be extremely
porous, and the ease with which one can find syabu in these towns is
testament to that fact. I urge the government to step
up its efforts in enforcement to stem the flow of drugs into the state.
Perhaps the Minister could inform this august house the latest
statistics on drug related problems amongst our youth and the schools
throughout the States and what had been done to resolve
this problem.
2.
CRIME RATES AND JUVENILE CRIME
The
newspapers have reported that crime rates have dropped. In Sarawak, the
latest figures are that the crime rate has dropped by 15% in the last
two years.
But
even the police acknowledge in their website that it is well known that
many, if not most offences are not reported to the police, and changes
in police
procedures can have a big impact on how such reported crimes are
categorised.
It
is not enough to be told that crime rates have fallen; we want to know
how many cases remain unsolved, and how many cases are unreported for
every case
reported. Unfortunately, it cannot be denied that many citizens take
the attitude that there is no use reporting a crime such as a bag
snatching, as the perception is that “nothing will be done by the
police”. Also, we can go and ask any person in the street
whether he or she feels safer from crime today than he or she did last
year and I can guarantee that the answer is no. The fear of crime
amongst Malaysians stands at 52.9%, according to a recent survey.
Notwithstanding
the supposedly reduced crime rate in Sarawak, the Borneo Post reported
on 11 May 2012 the Assistant Minister of Youth Development as saying
that the number of juveniles involved in thefts and drugs are on the
upward trend in Sarawak since 2010, and that the figure for this year
could overtake last year’s figures.
I
do not propose to go into the many reasons people turn to crime, but I
only wish to say that the degeneration of social and moral values is a
contributing
factor. It is my conviction that a firm grounding in spiritual and
moral values during the formative years will go a long way towards
keeping our youths from straying into lives of crime in their later
years. That is why I am a strong proponent of moral and
religious clubs to be encouraged in all schools rather than hindering
with red tape and unnecessary pre-conditions. As a Christian, I wish to
acknowledge the contributions made by the
Inter School Christian Fellowship (ISCF) in many schools through
out Sarawak before and after my time in the 1970s. The moral values I
learned and the religious inputs I received which had shaped my life to
this day were mainly the impact of ISCF works
in SMK Limbang. But unfortunately some schools are not very open to
have such clubs or religious bodies formed in their Schools today. I
don’t know whether this problem is intentional or due to vague or
unclear guidelines from the Minister of Education. I
wish to refer to a specific case of SMK Merapok where application was
made by the Committee for the setting up of ISCF in the school but which
was rejected by the School Principal on ground that there was no
approval from the State Education Director. I wrote
to the Principal on the 15th February 2012, for his
understanding and to use his discretion to approve the Committee’s
application but sadly to date there is no reply to my said letter. The
Committee in fact called me again two days ago to find
out whether there is any approval yet. Regrettably I said no.
As
such I respectfully ask if the Minister in Charge be kind enough to
make a very clear stand on this matter once and for all and let all the
heads of
schools in the State be very clear of this. I speak not only for the
ISCF, but also for all religious clubs or bodies who wish to set up such
entity in schools as this is very crucial for the shaping of our
children’s moral and religious fundamentals to overcome
all society’s ills which may not be easily resolved by rules and
regulations.
3.
THE SARAWAK ECONOMY
Mr
Speaker, I am deeply concerned about the future of Sarawak – the
outlook for the average Sarawakian is not as rosy as it is painted to be
by the media.
Witness the frantic chaos when the RM500 handout to the people was
being distributed. What proportion of the population was eligible for
the handout? Judging from the hordes of people scrambling for the money,
Sarawak is in serious trouble. This handout was
for households with low incomes. Does this mean that the people of
Sarawak can be categorized as poor? It is no secret that Sarawak is one
of the four poorest states in Malaysia, despite being the richest in
resources.
If
one were to just read the mainstream press, one would have a blinkered
view of the state of things in Sarawak. We were told that we attracted
the third
highest level of manufacturing investment in Malaysia after Penang and
Selangor in 2011, with RM8.45bil in investments. In terms of total
investment, Sarawak attracted RM14.35 bil, making it the No 1 in the
country. However, Mr Speaker, I am puzzled, where
are the big industries and manufacturing concerns that we would expect
to see from such huge amounts of investments? Where are the jobs that we
would expect to be created? Where is the stimulus to the market, which
should have resulted from such a huge injection
into the economy? Why is the ordinary person in the street no better
off today than he or she was last year, if not worse off?
Perhaps
if we could see what the sources of the investments were, we may better
understand the picture. We were told by the Minister for International
Trade
and Industry that RM6.7 bil of the investments were from Petronas,
while SCORE registered an investment of RM8.2 bil. These two figures add
up to RM14.9 bil covering the whole of the total investments in the
State. Petronas being the major oil and gas explorer
or perhaps for an appropriate term ‘exploiter’ from the state should
rightly invest some of its funds in Sarawak; the investment is to help
them to continue their exploring activities in the state. The
million-dollar question to be asked here is: who benefits
from Petronas’ activities the most? It is most definitely not Sarawak
or Sarawakians.
Then
the investments in SCORE. It has been reported that the investments are
predominantly in the energy-intensive industries such as aluminum
smelting
plants, polycrystalline silicon, metallic silicon and Ferro alloy
projects; and that four of the companies, namely Press Metal Bintulu SDN
Bhd, Tokuyama Corporation Japan, Asia Minerals Ltd (HK) and OM Holdings
Ltd (Singapore) have already commenced construction
works. What these companies may have the advantage is that they are in
some sort of joint venture or other connection with bigger companies
like CMS, which has no connection with the ordinary Sarawakians. Even in
the newpapers on Monday 14 May, the Dayak Chamber
of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) lamented on their being excluded from
SCORE, being left as bystanders while non-Sarawakian companies are given
all the opportunity of developing SCORE. It was noted that of the 15
companies involved in SCORE, only 3 were Sarawakian
companies.
Again, what are these sorts of investments going to mean for the average Sarawakian or even to the local entrepreneurs?
4.
ECONOMY & EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
The
lack of jobs and poor salaries are two other factors, which impede the
growth of Sarawak. Firstly, because a few major players control the
market in
Sarawak with connections to those in power, other businesses find it
difficult to penetrate into the market. These companies and their
subsidiaries take government contracts. Sarawak in effect is run by a
few companies with monopolies in every sector, allowing
them to control their prices and the wages they pay, which are
generally very low. Hence, the outflow of Sarawakian labour. There are
not enough jobs to keep the youths gainfully and meaningfully employed
here, resulting in migration to Peninsula Malaysia
and other countries. Salaries and wages are low for what jobs are
available. In fact the
Labour Department reported that unattractive salaries are the cause of unemployment in the state (Borneo Post 13 May 2012) and that the salary of RM500 offered by some employers was not enough to even cover daily expenses.
The
bitter pill for our people to swallow, is the fact that not only
content with grabbing their lands for huge plantations, leaving them
with no source
of income or survival, the plantation companies are not willing to
offer decent wages so that these displaced folk can have the means to
survive. The wages of RM18 a day attract workers from neighbouring
countries, who live extremely frugally to be able to
send their wages home. The injustice is being allowed to continue, as
these big companies are the few players who can control and dictate the
market wages at will.
What
we need are policies to break monopolies to encourage healthy
competition, to promote small and medium industries. We need legislation
to regulate
wages and the political will to enforce such legislation. I note that
the Prime Minister took the cue from the Pakatan Rakyat Buku Jingga and
introduced minimum wages 2 weeks ago. However, the RM800 for Sarawak is
still below our poverty line index of RM830,
which is insufficient for an average family to make ends meet. That is
bad enough but what is worse is there is a difference between Peninsula
Malaysia and Sarawak and Sabah where the minimum wage of RM900-00 is
higher than Sarawak and Sabah. I don’t think
that is fair because the basic controlled items like sugar, salt,
petrol and other household items are the same throughout the country. In
fact some household items are more expensive when they get to Sarawak.
The PR minimum wage of RM1,100 would be a more
manageable wage for Sarawakians, bearing in mind that the cost of
living is higher here than it is in Peninsula Malaysia.
Therefore, we need to stem the tide of Sarawakians moving away from the state and to reduce our dependence on foreign workers.
On
the subject of foreign workers, I wish to ask why it is that we only
seem to attract the unskilled workers from poorer countries than
Malaysia. Why is
it that we do not attract professionals into the state? As an example,
we have a shortage of medical specialists, such as oncologists and yet
we cannot attract such professionals to come to Sarawak. We are lacking
in basic healthcare for many in the more remote
areas of the State; do not even have a hospital or fully staffed
clinics. And yet we are promoting medical tourism for foreigners to come
and have their treatment here. This is another case where we are
putting the needs of our people below the moneymaking
motive of the private hospitals. Our priorities need to be
re-evaluated. We must take care of our own first.
5.
ACQUISITION OF NCR LAND FOR PUBLIC PURPOSE
I
acknowledge the fact that the Government of the day does need to
acquire lands including NCR lands for public purposes. If that is
necessary, then equity
requires that those who sacrificed their lands for these public goods
should be fairly and adequately compensated. We read that a dozen more
dams will be built throughout Sarawak. From our experiences in Batang
Ai, Bakun and Bengoh, the Government had allocated
a maximum of 3 acres of land to each family of the displaced natives to
farm to sustain their livelihood. Reports show that this is not enough
at all especially for a family, which has more than 3 children. In this
case the next generation would have only
half acre to farm. Good for them if the land is fertile. If not they
would be in a worse position than before the resettlement.
I
found out from historical record that during the era of the Brooke
administration, Chinese families who migrated to Sarawak were given 15
acres each along
the Kuching-Serian road to farm. This was the generosity of the
administration towards a people who were not even natives to Sarawak
then. The Government must reconsider this policy to increase such
allocation in upcoming mega projects to at least 15 acres
for each displaced family.
Compensation
for the land taken for public purposes is also an issue. Many are
unclear whether land surveyed for purpose of compensation will include
the
pemakai menoa and pulau galau or whether it will just be the temuda. It is time that the Government compensates the people in full for their NCR lands including the
pemakai menoa and pulau galau, which the Federal Court had
ruled, are NCR lands. Can we have the assurance from the Minister that
this would be the case in the up coming mega-dam projects that the
government will be implementing soon?
6.
50TH YEAR AFTER INDEPENDENCE
With
all that is happening in Sarawak at the moment, from the struggle of
the natives with the government over their land rights and the Dams, the
high
incidence of labour migration, poor educational opportunities, poor
healthcare and basic needs, poor infrastructure (especially roads), and
some alleged weaknesses in administering the State, the 50th
year of our independence offers us little to
celebrate. The rights of Sarawak as stated in the 18-points agreement I
believe have been slowly and insidiously eroded without anyone
realizing it until this stage. It is time we take heed of what is
rightfully ours. In this regard, I wish to highlight several
points of concern under the said18-Points Agreement for the State
Government to look into:
a.
Borneonisation:
Although I do not have the exact numbers, I believe that only about 10%
of senior state and federal governmental positions in
Sarawak are held by Sarawakians. This is not in the spirit of the
Agreement and as there are more than enough Sarawakians capable of
filling these positions, I urge the State Government to enforce and give
effect to this clause in the Agreement. Perhaps the
Minister could disclose the statistic on this issue to date.
b.
Representation in Parliament: The Cobbold Commission, which was set up to determine whether the people of
North Borneo
(now Sabah)
and Sarawak
supported the proposal to create the Federation of Malaysia
consisting of Malaya,
Singapore,
North Borneo,
and Sarawak
stated in their report under paragraphs 165 and 190(g) that there was
strong support for the merger and that the representation of the Borneo
States in the Federal Parliament should make up 34% of parliamentary
seats and take account not only of their populations
but also their size and potentialities. In addition, the Commission
hoped that the Election Commission would also take account of the
distance from the centre, and the difficulty of internal communications.
Article 161E of the Federal Constitution provides
for the protection of this quota for the two States in that no
amendment is allowed without their consent. Sarawak is a huge state and
many of her parliamentary constituencies are as big as any of the states
in Peninsula Malaysia with accessibility only through
jungle tracks and logging roads. The increase of representatives from
such an area in the Federal Parliament would definitely augur well for
the constituents and for national integration. I urge the State to call
on the Election Commission or Federal Government
to restore this 34% of seats to Sabah and Sarawak.
c.
Religion:
This is one of the safeguards, which we must jealously guard. Sarawak
being of a different ethnic composition from Peninsula Malaysia,
it was agreed that; ‘While there was no objection to Islam being the
national religion of Malaysia there should be no State religion in
Sarawak, and the provisions relating to Islam in the present
Constitution of Malaya should not apply to Sarawak’.
The absence of a state religion is a hallmark of Sarawak agreeing to
join in the formation Malaysia in 1963, due to the wisdom of our
forefathers who acknowledged that Sarawak is a land for all creeds or
beliefs to mutually prosper and grow with respect for
each other’s rights and freedom. It however disturbs me greatly to note
that in its latest publication entitled Sarawak Facts and Figures 2010,
the State Planning Unit of the Chief Minister’s Department states
clearly on page 2 that Islam is the Official Religion
of Sarawak. By pointing this matter I wish to state that I have no
disrespect or problem with the religion of Islam but merely to ensure
the fact of the matter is correct. I respectfully ask for a
clarification on this matter from the Honourable Chief Minister
and I hope for a reassurance that this most fundamental agreement has
not been amended or taken away subtly from us.
d.
Official Language:
The 18-point agreement preserves for us the use of the English language
as one of the official languages of the State for
all purposes, State or Federal, without limitation of time. This right
is further safeguarded in Art 161 in Part XIIA of the Federal
Constitution. Again I was disappointed to read in page 2 of the State
Planning Unit’s Sarawak Facts and Figures 2010 that Malay
is the official language. Again, I would like to get clarification from
the Honourable Chief Minister as to whether there is an official
language for the State of Sarawak, which we are unaware of. Mr Speaker,
you are aware that we are perhaps the only State
Assembly in Malaysia, which allows any language spoken in Sarawak to be
used in this august house. On that premise, there cannot be an official
language for Sarawak.
e.
Education:
The Education policies of the Federal government have been
counter-productive; I believe the standard of education has dropped
tremendously
over the last two or three decades. Even the Minister of Education is
not sure exactly how good or bad the educational system is. In April, he
was reported to have claimed that Malaysia’s education is
“one of the best in the world and that it is better than that being
provided in the United States, Germany and also the United Kingdom”.
However, in Sunday’s papers, he was reported to have said that the
government's 10 to 15-year target to achieve an
education system on par with, or better than those of developed
countries, was realistic. Given the confusion at Federal level, and the
constant changing of goalposts to achieve an acceptable percentage of
passes perhaps for public consumption or perhaps for
political reason, I propose that Sarawak takes ownership of our
Education System again and strive to achieve the level of education
which we once made us proud.
f.
Sarawak’s Legislative List:
This list includes land, under which oil and gas belong. Let us insist
on receiving more than the meager 5% of the
oil and gas revenue that the Federal Government takes from us through
Petronas. With this money, much can be done to develop our neglected
Sarawak. Proper dual carriageway roads, public transport systems,
healthcare, affordable housing and free education will
help us to make some progress towards lifting Sarawak out of its
impoverished status. With proper and prudent management and the end of
leakages and unwarranted commissions, there is much that can be achieved
for Sarawak with this amount of funds.
Amidst
the negotiations for the formation of Malaysia, the late Temenggong
Jugah anak Barieng was said to have made a prophetic comment; he said in
Iban
‘Anang anang Malaysia sebaka tebu, manis di pohon, tawal di hujung.’
[“Let not Malaysia be like the sugarcane that is sweet at the head or base and less sweet at the end”].
Yes,
over the last 30 years or so, the sweetness has indeed turned sour. It
is time for us to reclaim what is rightly ours and let all the people
taste
the sweetness of this Fair Land Sarawak.
May God bless Sarawak and His Excellency the Governor and Toh Puan with joy, happiness and good health.
