Sabah's True poverty at 60%!

Given the higher cost of living nowadays, this figure should be
correct instead of the BN government's self imposed poverty figure.

No region can withstand outstanding robbery of its resources as had
happened in Sabah. Sabah had been robbed of hundreds of billions of RM
and yet given back only less than RM10 billion. This amount is not
enough to cover the costs of the damages done by the stripping of
Sabah's wealth.

The worst is to come with the building of the coal powered plant
while our hydroelectric and gas resources are exported out of Sabah at
great costs, RM2.5 billion for piping to Bintulu and RM10 billion for
underwater electric cables. Soon Maliau BAsin will be stripped bared
for its coal deposits.

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/fmt-english/politics/sabah-and-sarawak/4961-sabah-poverty-issue-crippling-bn

Sabah poverty issue crippling BN
TUE, 27 APR 2010 11:40
BY FMT Staff

KOTA KINABALU: The federal government's E-Kasih system has identified
15,293 families in Sabah who are living below the RM540 a month
poverty level .

They were among 44,634 poor families nationwide, who had registered
with the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry's E-Kasih
programme.

The families were from Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu, Kelantan, Kedah and
Johor.

Poverty in Sabah has become a politically crippling issue for the
Barisan Nasional government.

According to the the Sabah-based Common Interest Group Malaysia
(CigMa), about 1.8 million or 60% of the 3.25 million population in
Sabah live in poverty.

In five decades, Sabah, which was once the riches state in Malaysia,
is now the poorest.

Much of it has been attributed to the exponential population increase
and the "Malaysianisation" of illegal immigrants during former Prime
Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's reign.

While the BN-led state government claims that poverty levels have
progressively been reduced, private non-governmental organisations and
opposition leaders differ on the issue.

Serious issue

Yesterday, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat
Abdul Jalil, who admitted that poverty in Sabah was a matter of grave
concern, said the government had deployed the National Population and
Family Development Board Malaysia (LPPKN) officers to access the
hardcore poor and low income families.

"We've set aside RM6.9 million for the LPPKN programmes in six states
to help the poor.

"We will be looking at various issues. One is finance. We will have to
find out which segment they fall under -- the low-income group or
hardcore poor.

"Next, we want to know whether the head of the house is able to work
or if the family needs aid," she said.

She addded that LPPKN will also be identifying household members who
need training, job placements or if they are keen to do business.

"We will find out their needs before helping them," she said.

Shahrizat said it is a start to tackling a serious issue.

"We've been evolving our approach... since the 2008 general
election... I was shocked when I lost in Lembah Pantai.

"But it was a good lesson and since we are still governing the
country, it is a god-given opportunity to make amends and improve
ourselves and the public service delivery system," she said.

On allegations that her ministry was incompetent, she said: "We are
not a department. It's a big ministry... yes, sometimes we make
mistakes too, but we rectify them just as quickly."

Removing Hardcore Poverty(RM540), with RM300/month allowance

The ministry only provides RM300 per month allowance for those
categorized as hard core. My widowed and sickly cousin, was not even
registered earlier so not in the 44,643 hard core poor figure.

If it can happen to my cousin that live right in Sandakan Town, 10km
from the town centre, what about those living in the remote Islands?

hard core is supposed to be survival state. You need RM540 to survive
in Sabah. With RM300, it is not sufficient to survive, especially when
you have to pay water and electricity bills.
Where are the other RM240 coming from? They expect it to be coming
from her relatives such as her son that also have a wife and a few
children, and yet earn below the poverty level.

April 27, 2010 18:20 PM
Shahrizat Confident Of Zero Hardcore Poor By Year End
KOTA KINABALU, April 27 (Bernama) -- Women, Family and Community
Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil today expressed
confidence that the ministry could get all hardcore poor families in
the country out of the clutches of poverty by year end.

She said the confidence was based on positive development of the
programmes implemented by the government and the initiatives taken by
government's departments and agencies in achieving their National Key
Result Areas (NKRA).

"When the NKRA was first introduced, we have 44,643 hardcore poor
families listed in the E-Kasih system.

"Now, after four months of NKRA implementation, we only have 32,693
hardcore poor families left in the list," she told reporters after
briefing Sabah Cabinet members, elected representatives and government
officers on her ministry's NKRA, here Tuesday.

Also present was Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman.

Shahrizat said the ministry needed an additional allocation of RM1.66
billion to get the rest of the families out of poverty by December.

She said the additional allocation was vital to help the states that
had the most poor and hardcore poor families, especially Sabah.

At present, she said there were 15,923 hardcore poor families earning
a monthly household income of less than RM540 and 16,753 poor families
with a monthly household income of RM960 in Sabah.

Meanwhile, Musa said the state government was willing to assist the
ministry as such a cooperation between the federal and state
governments was vital to enable them to receive the allocation and
channel it faster to the target groups.

"We are so happy to be able to discuss and exchange our views on how
the NKRA could be implemented more efficiently and in an orderly
manner," he added.

-- BERNAMA

Delay in World Heritage Application shows that Maliau Basin will be Denuded

Why the delay in the application?
It was mentioined more than 20 years ago. Will it take another 20
years to go ahead?
By this time the coal-powered plant will be operational and will have
the excuse to demand more coal from Maliau Basin.
Have you seen the strip mining in Indonesia? That will happen to
Maliau Basin and will be a disaster worse than the Copper Mine in
Ranau.

If Sabahans can get something out of it, it is all right but facts
show that Sabah has become worse off by being the poorest in the
world, and still the lowest
medical health facility in the world while having the highest case of
Jaundice in the world. All my 5 children got Jaundice at birth whereas
all of us 7 brothers and sisters never got any Jaundice at all.
All are due to the copper mine at Mamut, Ranau.

What will happen after the coal power plant and strip mining of Maliau
basin. What else apart from Jaundice will our future generations get
while still having the least number of doctors and hospitals in the
world.

http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/asia/Malaysia-Seeks-Heritage-Listing-for-Lost-World-90830694.html

Malaysia Seeks Heritage Listing for Lost World
The Maliau Basin covers almost 600 square kilometers, hidden so deeply
within Borneo that it was only discovered in the 1970s. Much of it
remains unexplored.
Luke Hunt | Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia 14 April 2010

Photo: VOA - L. Hunt
An Orangutan on north east Borneo, not far from the Maliau Basin,
which will soon be nominated as a World Heritage Site
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In Malaysia, authorities have ended years of debate and announced they
will seek a World Heritage listing for the Maliau Basin, a pristine
wilderness area in remote northern Borneo.

The decision to seek World Heritage status will effectively save the
isolated and celebrated rain forests from timber and mining interests.

The basin covers almost 600 square kilometers, hidden so deeply within
Borneo that it was only discovered in the 1970s. Much of it remains
unexplored. Scientists hail the Malaysian government's decision on a
heritage listing as a victory for the environment.

Glen Reynolds, director of the Royal Society's Southeast Asian rain
forest program, says a listing will go a long way toward securing the
forest's future.

"Oh it's fabulous, I think it's the most amazing bit of forest I've
ever been in," he said. "There's certain bits of Maliau Basin I doubt
there's ever, [that] anybody's ever set foot. The terrain is very
difficult, it's a got a certain degree of natural protection if you
like in as much as it's very inaccessible, but you know it's really
extraordinary."

Miners and timber conglomerates have long eyed the minerals and trees
in the basin, which is home to clouded leopards, orangutans,
rhinoceros, pigmy elephants and hundreds of waterfalls.

Concerns for what remains of Malaysia's native habitat prompted a
decision by the Sabah state government that gave the go ahead for the
Maliau Basin to be nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

But Reynolds notes that rain forest preservation can only be achieved
by including timber companies and miners within the conservation
process.

Malaysian resource company Sime Darby is negotiating to finance a 10-
year scientific study of altered forests and their ecosystems. Funding
is expected to top millions of dollars.

"Most forested areas and obviously plantations, it's all held by big
corporates," he said. "So if we're going to conserve these forests,
better manage them, then you've got to be working within and in
partnership with these companies. They are the major land managers now
in this part of Southeast Asia so it's critical that we're engaged
with them."

Increasingly companies and governments realize that carbon trading -
where industrial polluters pay countries with large forests to keep
trees standing could prove a lucrative way to raise the money to
protect the environment, and fund economic growth.

BN is proud of Sabah's High Poverty Rate

SAbah at 1 doctor every 2650 is 0.37 per 1000 people. As figures below
shows, Sabah is still the poorest among them despite the data being 5
years old.

= 145 Fiji: 0.34 per 1,000 people 1999
= 145 Tonga: 0.34 per 1,000 people 2001
# 144 Burma: 0.36 per 1,000 people 2004
= 142 Nicaragua: 0.37 per 1,000 people 2003
= 142 Thailand: 0.37 per 1,000 people 2000
# 141 Botswana: 0.4 per 1,000 people 2004
# 140 Northern Mariana Islands: 0.44 per 1,000 people 1999
= 138 Iran: 0.45 per 1,000 people 2004

In comparison with Brunei in year 2000, Sabah still has a very long
way to go, and yet BN government is already proud of this figure.
Only gullible fools want a government that is satisfied in giving such
poor service to Sabahans that has much more resources than Brunei.

12 Brunei: 1.01 per 1,000 people 2000
# 113 Maldives: 0.92 per 1,000 people 2004
# 114 Guatemala: 0.9 per 1,000 people 1999
# 115 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines: 0.87 per 1,000 people
1997
# 116 Jamaica: 0.85 per 1,000 people 2003
# 117 Trinidad and Tobago: 0.79 per 1,000 people 1997
# 118 American Samoa: 0.78 per 1,000 people 1999
# 119 South Africa: 0.77 per 1,000 people 2004
# 120 Pakistan: 0.74 per 1,000 people 2004
= 121 Samoa: 0.7 per 1,000 people 1999
= 121 Malaysia: 0.7 per 1,000 people 2000

http://groups.google.com.my/group/soc.culture.malaysia/post?hl=en
April 15, 2010 17:53 PM
Tun Ahmadshah: Sabahans Enjoy A Better Quality Of Life
KOTA KINABALU, April 15 (Bernama) -- The Sabah people are now enjoying
a better quality of life through the provision of various facilities
and services, Yang Dipertua Negeri of Sabah Tun Ahmadshah Abdullah
said.

He said that in terms of health facility, there were now 22 hospitals,
270 government clinics, including those in the rural areas, and 298
private clinics.

"The doctor-population ratio is also improving from one doctor to
2,935 people in 2006 to one doctor to 2,650 people last year," he said
in his speech when opening the third term of the state legislative
assembly here Thursday.

In terms of education, Ahmadshah said the number of schools had also
increased, from 1,257 in 2006 to 1,271 in 2008.

In the meantime, he said, over 20 education institutions had stated
their commitment to open their respective branches at the Sandakan
Education Hub which is expected to be completed by 2016.

Among them are Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Mara Junior Science College,
several polytechnics, Inland Revenue Board training centre, Asian
Tourism Institute and PTPL College.

"More education opportunities will be provided either at the secondary
or higher education levels to create quality human resources," he
said.

He said the RM2 billion hub, mooted by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa
Aman, would make Sabah the only state in Malaysia to have a large-
scale and integrated education hub.

Meanwhile, Ahmadshah said Sabah should produce high quality products
and services to transform the state from a low-income to a high-income
state.

He said despite numerous positive developments under the Ninth
Malaysia Plan (9MP) (2006-2010), the state was still faced with
internal and external challenges.

"The state should make the shift towards the 10th Malaysia Plan, with
the incorporation of knowledge-based inputs and innovation into all
production chains," he said.

In a related development, Ahmadshah said the state's tourism industry
continued to grow despite the global economic downturn, with tourism
receipt reaching RM3.86 billion last year.

"Some nine million tourists visited Sabah during the first four years
of 9MP compared to about seven million during the previous Malaysia
plan," he said.

Ahmadshah said the number of hotels had also increased to 443 last
year compared to 279 at the end of 8MP.

"This means that there was also an increase in the number of hotel
rooms from 11,528 in 2005 to 18,065 last year," he said.

The tourism sector provided 83,384 employments last year compared to
64,977 in 2006, he added.

-- BERNAMA

30pc Sabahans under new poverty index: Harris

If you consider RM1,700 to be the poverty line in KL, the poverty line
in most towns in Sabah is not that far off from RM1,700 so the
percentage of Sabahans that are below the poverty line is much higher
than the official figure of just 16%.

30pc Sabahans under new poverty index: Harris
Published on: Sunday, April 04, 2010
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Tawau: Former Chief Minister Datuk Harris Salleh said Sabah still lags
behind other states in Malaysia after 50 years of independence through
the formation of Malaysia.

He estimated that at least 30 per cent of Sabahans are under the new
poverty index.

There are many Sabahans still living on subsistence income or "kais
pagi makan pagi, kais petang makan petang," he said.

"With the cost and standards of living escalating and with the income
of the people in rural and urban areas only increasing slightly, the
effect means that people will just continue to be poorer and poorer
under the new index of poverty," he said.

He also lamented that the Federal Government has classified people in
Kuala Lumpur earning RM1,700 as poor.

Speaking to 18 members of the Ex-Assemblymen Association during their
visit to Balung here, Saturday, he said these days money is everything
and is required for everything.

Although the rural houses may have been rebuilt or improved by the
Government, at least 15 per cent of these houses have hardly any cash
even as low as RM10 at any one time, he said.

"Vegetables or fruits are hardly being planted around their house
compound. These outside incomes may be from the government contracts
or either their children working in Peninsular Malaysia," he said.

"It appears that the government policies and programmes are not
conductive nor productive in helping these rural people. With the
desires on living the modern lifestyle, these rural people had to sell
off their lands or lease them all at once for 99 years.

"The government stimulus packages and the subsistence on various
consumer goods, that includes the giving of allowance to the hardcore
poor and fishermen. All these do not contribute much to the rural
economy.

The stimulus packages are nothing but only benefits the 'negotiated
contractors' and foreign workers.

"Development of infrastructures like schools and medical facilities
does not contribute directly to the income of the rural people," he
said.

With respect to the tourists, Sabah is only getting mostly the budget
tourists but despite this fact, everyone is praising Sabah as a great
tourist product, he said.

"I, on my part, have left many economic activities for Sabah and
Sabahans.

For example, the famous 906,330 acres identified and reserved for the
smallholders and the planting of accacia trees. Accacia wood will be
the wood of Sabah for now and the future," he said.

He was also critical of the ex-assemblymen, asking them if they had
achieved anything to change Sabah and Sabahans, particularly the
livelihoods of the people during their respective terms.

"The answer is categorically, no," he said.

Vote for Yong Teck Lee

He is the only leader intelligent enough not to be fooled by greedy
West Malaysians and brave enough to say it aloud. Thank you Daily
Express for reporting his comments.

This is the sort of leader that we need. No matter how corrupt he may
appear or made to appear, these losses are nothing compared to the
losses due to the irresponsible and greedy theft of Sabahan resources.
Sabahan should wake up and don't pretend that everything is alright.
Sabah is already the worst in all areas of development, physical and
human. Sabah cannot even beat Darfur of Sudan,let alone Bangladesh.

No effort at all to eradicate poverty, instead, Sabah is made even
poorer by stealing our electricity, gas and environment, despite
having frequent power cuts and poor communications. All for what? Just
to enrich the already rich West Malaysians even more, disregarding all
economic principles. Piping gas from Sabah to Bintulu at a cost of RM
2500 billion and piping Bakun dam in Bintulu area to West Malaysia for
RM10,000.

In return, instead of using gas from Sabah, Sabah has to buy COAL from
Indonesia, to power a power plant that cost RM2500 million just to
produce 300 Mega Watt of electricity, hardly sufficient for current
Sabah needs, let alone the future.

Electricity from Bakun will cost less than RM2500 million, much less
than the single coal power plant while improving Sabahan power grid
system at the same time and much more power capacity than the 300
MWatt.

Piping the Bakun electricity to West Malaysian will only improve the
grid system for the fishes while causing environmental and safety
hazards in the South China Sea.

http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=69909

'Sabah should take back SESB'
Published on: Tuesday, January 05, 2010
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SABAH should take back Sabah Electricity Sdn. Bhd. (SESB) since it has
failed to improve power supply in the State after its privatisation.

"Like Air Asia which was sold by the Government to the private sector
for one Ringgit, we ask that TNB shares in SESB be given back to Sabah
for one Ringgit as well," Yong said.

"Sabah has nothing to lose except the bosses from Kuala Lumpur," he
said, adding energy supply could be better managed by Sabah as the
State had the ability to do so.

He said the Sabah Electric Board (SEB) was handed over to Kuala Lumpur
by the Berjaya Government due to insufficient funds but still no
improvement was seen.

Following that, he said, SEB was privatised in 1998 and renamed SESB
when taken over by Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB).

"Twenty years after being given to Federal, Sabah's electricity
problems remain. The Berjaya Government handed over SEB to Kuala
Lumpur hoping the problem could be addressed but not so.

"Then TNB came in 11 years ago promising to overcome it but until
today, the problem remains," he said at the formation of SAPP Kampung
Kibabaig branch and receiving new members led by Florian Chong at the
residence of Jolis Podi, at Kampung Kibabaig, near here.

Yong who is a former Chief Minister said Sabah has the ability to
manage its energy supply just like Sarawak .

Sarawak run its own electricity supply via Sesco and never faced any
problems, he said, adding SAPP has a task force studying the mechanism
to take back SESB.

He said it is sheer arrogance for the Barisan Nasional (BN) Government
to pipe Sabah's natural gas to Bintulu LNG Plant 500km away at a cost
of billions Ringgit, but not allowed Sabah to use that gas for power
generation in the State.

"We are forced to buy Indonesian coal for a coal power plant from
China .

To add insult to injury, the coal power plant is targeted to be
located in the Tungku Lahad Datu Felda - which was state land given to
Felda supposed to be for local settlers but end up mostly as Felda
corporate land," he said.

He said the Bintulu LNG plant is capable of producing 25 Million ton
per annum (MTA) which is the biggest plant in the whole world.

The plant is now being expanded to take in more gas to be converted
into LNG to be sold to Japan and China at massive profits of billions
of ringgit to Petronas, he claimed.

He said on Dec 22 last year, the Senate was told by the Federal Deputy
Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water that it is too
expensive to transmit power supply from Bakun near Bintulu to Sabah.

Yong said the Deputy Minister's reasons were because of the terrain.

"Ironically, why is it possible to pipe our gas to Bintulu? Why was
the same terrain of mountains, rivers and valleys not a problem when
it comes to pipe our gas to Bintulu? It is the same geography, same
terrain, same mountains, the same rivers, the same jungles, the same
that carries our gas away to Bintulu that cannot also take electric
power from Bakun to Sabah ," he said.

He said TNB was reported planning to transmit the same power supply
from the same Bakun dam to peninsula Malaysia, across 700km of the
South China Sea.

"Even a Form Three geography student knows...but our leaders do not
know," he said, adding he was angry not because Kuala Lumpur is
cheating Sabah, but Sabah leaders in the Federal and State Governments
are not defending Sabahans.

As result, he said Sabahans pay more for electricity, forced to take a
dirty polluting coal power plant, and still suffer power breakdowns.

"All these must change. We shall no longer keep quiet," he added.

He said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during his visit
here in November last year had told Sabahans to compromise and accepts
the coal power plant.

"My answer is how can the PM ask the poorest state to compromise,"
Yong said.

Malaysian court: day-to-day means 24-hours a day to interview witnesses

From thefreedictionary:
http://74.125.153.132/search?q=cache:0Gt0vegO-0QJ:www.thefreedictionary.com/day-to-day+day+to+day&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=my

adj.
1. Occurring on a routine or daily basis: the day-to-day movements of
the stock market.
2. Subsisting one day at a time with little regard for the future:
lived a day-to-day existence.

But our appeal court deemed that this phrase means that MACC has the
right to interview WITNESSESS 24-hours a day.

Justices Datuk Hasan Lah, Datuk Ahmad Maarop and Datuk Syed Ahmad
Helmy Syed Ahmad

These judges, either are so ignorant of English or just blatantly
corrupt in all sense of the word.

Unfortunately this is the CURRENT LAW IN MALAYSIA.

WITNESSES WILL BE FORCED TO TESTIFY AGAINST THEIR WILL 24-HOURS A DAY,
AND MANY HAD DIED DURING CUSTODY.

Unfortunately, suspected criminals are better treated. The law do not
allow the policemen to interrogate them 24-hours a day.

It is definitely better to be a criminal than to be a witness. My
advise is for all Malaysians, to keep quiet, if you want your peace
and livelihood to survive.

How low has Malaysia gone done towards the path of destruction.

How can a nation ever survive when violent CRIMINALS are better
treated than the WITNESSES.

The only conclusion we can deduce is that we have put into power,
CRIMINALS.
Tell me, how can Malaysia ever develop at all if CRIMINALS are running
the country.
Is the so called peace and development promised by criminals worth a
cent?

Look at the status of developoment of Sabah, the least developed in
the whole world, much less than Bangladesh indeed, as viewed by
Bangalis in Sabah.

We haven't looked at the high incidence of poverty in Sabah, among the
highest in the world as well.

Sabah, Malaysia, peaceful? Are you willing to bet on it by leaving
your children unattended?

http://bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsgeneral.php?id=463821

December 22, 2009 13:30 PM

Tan Boon Wah To Appeal Against Ruling On MACC Working Hours

PUTRAJAYA, Dec 22 (Bernama) -- Kajang municipal councillor Tan Boon
Wah on Tuesday filed a motion for leave to appeal against the Appeal
Court's ruling last week that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission
(MACC) can interrogate witnesses after office hours.

Tan, 39, filed the motion and his sworn affidavit through his counsel,
Karpal Singh at the Federal Court registry here.

In the motion, Tan said the intended appeal was important as it
involved novel questions and issues arising for the first time in the
country and the Federal Court decision would be an advantage to the
public.

Tan also listed five questions to be determined by the court, among
others, whether the phrase 'day-to-day' under section 30(3)(a) of the
MACC Act 2009 encompasses only office hours or a continuous period of
24 hours.

Karpal Singh, when met by reporters, said he would write to the
Federal Court for an early date of hearing.

"This is a very serious matter, therefore it is important for the
Federal Court as the highest court to decide on this issue once and
for all," he said.

He also hoped that Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail would
appear personally in the proceedings later. "There are far-reaching
consequences of the Appeal Court decision.

If the decision is right, it means that the MACC officers can come to
your house at 3am and you are required to go to MACC office to be
questioned. That situation is unacceptable.

"Witnesses will also be reluctant to come forward to give evidence
knowing that they will be harassed and questioned round-the-clock
continuously," he said.

On Dec 17, a panel of three Court of Appeal judges unanimously held
that Section 30(3)(a) of the MACC Act did not restrict to working
hours the time for a witness to be examined in an investigation.

Justices Datuk Hasan Lah, Datuk Ahmad Maarop and Datuk Syed Ahmad
Helmy Syed Ahmad also overturned the High Court decision restricting
the interrogation to office hours, between 8.30am and 5.30pm.

On Nov 19, High Court judge Mohammad Ariff Md Yusof, in allowing a
judicial review filed by Tan, ruled that Section 30(3)(a) of the MACC
Act 2009 did not empower the MACC to investigate a witness "round-the-
clock".

Tan had sued MACC chief commissioner Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan,
MACC assistant superintendent Mohammad Hassan Zulkifli and the MACC,
claiming that his detention and questioning for 16 hours overnight by
the MACC was unlawful, which resulted in him suffering losses and
damages.

-- BERNAMA