A Malaysia Day reflection

By Hilary Chiew

COMMENT Malaysia Day last Thursday saw considerable outpouring of sentiments of ‘oneness’ on the pages of newspapers and online portals and even on the streets.
Some were the predictable reiteration and re-examination of the 20- and 18-point agreements that applied to Sabah and Sarawak when the two states in Borneo together with the Federation of Malaya and Singapore formed Malaysia in 1963.

There were also the propagandists ‘feel-good’ stories of West Malaysians singing praises of the ‘development’ they saw happening in the two states across the South China Sea.

These stories are to be taken with a generous helping of salt. Actually, they are more like rubbing salt to the wounds. The discontent of East Malaysians is centred on being left behind in the grand scheme of national development but some of those positive stories are arguing along the line that they should be grateful for whatever they have got so far.

One army veteran shared his observation of the improvement in the road and the Kuching General Hospital’s cardiac unit. For the road, he was comparing it with the gravel ones in the 1960s when he was first posted there and later became a civilian and now residing in Kuching.

Maybe he has never travel to the interior on bumpy and dangerous timber roads and not visited the health service centres that are understaffed and poorly equipped. Many are manned by junior medical attendants where the needs for quality medical attention are most needed.

Not only that all these essential social services are rare, economic development projects promoted by the state governments (which in turn are endorsed by the federal government) are threatening the self-subsistence lifestyle of the rural populations.

Maybe like many urbanites on both sides of the sea, he chose to turn a deaf ear and be blind to this backwardness. After all, ignorance is bliss.

Poor roads have been lifelong complain of at least two generations of Sabahans and Sarawakians. For the slightly better off folks, they are unhappy that they can’t travel in a huge part of their states with a sedan car like most West Malaysians instead of a four-wheel-drive. And these 4WDs last lesser than in the peninsula, no thanks to the potholed-ridden unsealed surfaces.

Their frustrations are further compounded by their realization that they are endowed with rich resources that had been exploited all these 47 years which enriched the national coffer yet they remained the poorest states in the federation.

In his speech to mark the first Malaysia Day celebration in Kota Kinabalu, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak promised a greater push towards ending the social and economic disparities between peninsula and the Borneo states, tacitly admitting the neglect.

The government is fully aware of the disparity and the state of inequality that are leading to further marginalisation of Sabahans and Sarawakians. In its more recent Malaysian Plans, notably the 8th and 9th plans, the problem was acknowledged with promises of rectification. But plans after plans, there are hardly any evaluation of the failures in implementation and the situation remains.

Throwing money irresponsibly

All these talks about road construction reminded me of the recent announcement of development allocation by Najib when he visited Sarawak on the heels of yet another report on sexual violations against Penan womenfolks.

But instead of addressing the issue head-on (I wonder if members of the press did and dare ask him to comment on the problem), the helicopter visit turned into a project-pledging trip.

(The trip was preceded by Women’s Affair Minister Shahrizat whirlwind visit to Batu Bungan, supposedly to get a first hand knowledge of the recurring rape issues.)

Hence, it was largely seen by many political observers as a pre-state election exercise to bolster the battered image of the state that was reeling from one expose after another of Taib’s overseas wealth accumulation which by the way, until this day, Najib’s administration has never commented.

Anyway, he pledged RM101mil to upgrade the infamous Beluru-Lapok road; a 42km largely gravel road connecting the major thoroughfare into the interior of timber-rich Baram with the coastal cities of Miri and Bintulu.

The locals have interesting names for the road – Jumping Road, Bone-breaking Road, Jalan Lobang etc. There are also stories which are the stuff of urban legend – the roughness of the road is also said to be birth-inducing; babies had been delivered prematurely in vehicles.

Locals will tell you that the handful of sealed stretches of the road were election goodies. Past pledges from the federal government to seal the entire road had mysteriously evaporated elections after elections.

As with most government allocations that are awarded to private contractors without going through open tendering, the final products are predictably substandard.

Another pledge - the RM6million allocation for a mini hydro-electric project in Long Banga, upper Baram is also questionable.

The flopped rural electrification project in the Sarawak Kelabit Highland comes to mind. In 1997, the Ministry of Rural Development awarded a RM17million contract for a hybrid micro-hydro electrification for the Bario Asal longhouse community in Bario.

In the absence of project transparency, the contractor purportedly installed a 100kW turbine which was way beyond the capacity of the Merario River. After a big launch fanfare, the electricity supply lasted a mere 15 minutes, claimed some locals.

In any case, it eventually incurred a cost of RM900 per month diesel cost for three-hour indoor lighting. This was due to wrong judgment of the hydro capacity to turn the ill-fitted big turbine. The system has since been abandoned and was partly destroyed by flash floods in 2003.

Subsequently, an indigenous peoples’ organization from Sabah – Pacos Trust (Partners in Community Organisations) provided technical assistance to the community to revive the project with less than RM500,000. The 40kW mini-hydro project is now providing 24-hour electricity for the 47 households of Bario Asal in January 2009.

Thus far, Pacos has successfully implemented community-based mini-hydro in Long Lawen, Belaga and tow other remote villages in Sabah – Kg Terian in Penampang and Kg Bantul in Pensiangan.

Hardly the solution

Micro-hydro projects that involved communities from the beginning are a proven solution to rural electrification; a sound alternative to mega dams, coal-fired power plants and even nuclear power plants that are not only costly, environmentally destructive but involved transmission across hundreds or thousands of kilometers resulting in energy losses, rendering them highly inefficient.

So, throwing huge sum of taxpayers money nilly-willy can hardly be the solution.

Furthermore, it risks being perceived as yet another way to enrich the politically-connected companies that stand to wrest the contracts.

And when it comes to mega projects like the Bakun dam, displaced communities became dispossesed in the grand scheme of development. It certainly doesn’t bode well for nation-building if these Sarawakians are deprived of electricity when they had already sacrificed so much only to have the energy earmarked for energy-wasteful peninsula. At least that was the initial plan which has since been shelved.

When people are dispossessed, can you blame them for their discontent?

Malaysia Day celebration will be meaningful only when we stopped serving the East Malaysians the crumbs from our dining tables and embrace all Malaysians as one regardless of race and religion.