More obvious Malaysian discriminatory practises against Sabah

This is a blatant discrimination due to the lack of money given to
Sabah. Malaya is more interested in stealing money from Sabah but not in
spending a single cent at all.

The reasons why the road in Sabah is so bad is because they are built to
much lower standards because of the lack of budget. Why not, when Sabah
is only given 8% of the national budget, even now, despite promises to
increase them, while Sabah consists of 13% of population and 23% of area.

Raymond Tan, the ass licker is one of the reasons, but he is favoured by
Malaya just for this reason. He is not interested in fighting for the
progress of Sabah, only for his own stomach.

He is not alone of course.

Still there is no program to address the status of Sabah as the poorest
in Malaysia and among the poorest in the whole world.

The poor are still not receiving the aid that they need, while elected
officials like Raymond Tan is getting richer and richer.

http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=60046
DAILY EXPRESS NEWS Double standards: Lorrymen

Kota Kinabalu: The Federation of Sabah Lorry Transportation Associations
is calling on Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman to help resolve the
BDM (gross vehicle weight) mismatch between lorries operating in Sabah
and Peninsular Malaysia.

Its President, Steven Chua Pui Ming, said this is important because the
problem, which has been lingering since five years ago, is slowly
killing off one by one those involved in the business.

He said about 20 per cent of their members are already out of the
business as they can no longer withstand the impact, while another 30 to
40 per cent may soon meet a similar fate.

Chua said they had asked Deputy Chief Minister-cum-Infrastructure
Minister Datuk Raymond Tan to assist them but it appeared like "he (Tan)
is hopeless in this matter."

"We have asked Raymond to pursue or do something about this but nothing
until now. He (Tan) even closed his door on our West Coast Lorry
Transportation Association which had thrice tried to approach him but to
no avail.

"So we are now placing our hope on the Chief Minister to help us," he
told a press conference Wednesday.

It was held by the federation to voice their dissatisfaction on the
dialogue they had with representatives from the Federal and State Public
Works Department (PWD), Road Transport Department (RTD) Sabah, Transport
Ministry and the police at the State RTD Headquarters in Bundusan near
here earlier in the day.

The problem arose after the government gazetted the Weight Restriction
Order in 2003 and downgraded the BDM of lorries (double axle trailer) in
Sabah and Sarawak to 34,000kg from 36,000kg, while the BDM of lorries in
the penin-sular was upgraded to 40,000kg for no apparent reason.

The Federation had objected to the differential in BDM and appealed to
the Prime Minister, Transport Minister and various government
departments to make it similar with the one for the peninsula.

Calling it a double standard, Chua reasoned that this is because
everything from the amount of road tax up to the penalty and summons
amounts are the same in East Malaysia and the peninsula.

Citing an example he said their members are sometimes taken action
against by the enforcement authority for carrying loads exceeding the
permissible BDM which would not be the case if in the peninsula.

"Why can't we have the same BDM when we are living in one nation and
everything else is the sameÉwe heard the BDM in the peninsula, which is
now already upgraded again to 44,000kg, would be upgraded again by
another 20 per cent soon, while we still have the same old problem," he
said.

Chua said their members were also not happy that there is a
Sarawak-based transportation com-pany which operates a fleet of lorries
registered in Sabah which had been given "special privilege" by the
government to carry loads beyond the BDM fixed for the State, just
because it involves a government project.

"Why this double standard? This company's lorries are travelling the
same roads as we are but its lorries are allowed to carry up to 55,000kg
because it is a 'special case' and this special case happens to be a
government project.

"Some of us also involved in government projects are not given such
special treatment," said Chua.

Wednesday's dialogue followed a directive from Transport Minister Datuk
Ong Tee Keat in response to the request made by the Federation during
his visit here recently.

Chua, however, said the dialogue was a failure, as there was no positive
result. He said PWD officials responded to the upgrade of BDM by saying
they have to form a committee, in which they asked the federation
members to participate, to do a study on the existing bridges throughout
Sabah to decide whether these bridges require strengthening.

"We do not concur with the PWD as the issue of BDM has been outstanding
since 2003. It has been five years already and all the others such as
the Transport Ministry and other relevant authorities have already
agreed that the upgrading of BDM in Sabah is necessary."

Chua said it is also important to solve the problem fast with the
imminent BIMP-EAGA free growth area where it would become a problem or a
great shame in terms of transportation of goods because Indonesia,
Brunei and Philippines have higher BDMs for lorries.

"Just think what will happen to those lorries carrying goods or products
way above the permissible BDM in Sabah and Sarawak when they come into
the StateÉyou cannot stop them because it would be a free trade area,
while we in Sabah can only bring out to these countries good loads
according to the same low BDM," he said.

Sabah and Sarawak are probably the only places having the lowest BDM in
the world, he said, questioning if the delay or refusal to upgrade the
present BDM show the Federal and State roads in both states are of not
up-to-mark in terms of quality.

Sabah West Coast Lorry Transport Association Chairman, Steven Foo, and
other committee members were also present.
--
Sabah is heaven. Beautiful shark-free beaches and mountains next to
civilisation with no natural and man-made disasters except Malaysia.
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