Where’s the billions in forest royalties?

Despite the billions derived from logging,
oil and gas royalties, Sarawakian natives
have remained poor with minimal infrastructure.

By Joseph Tawie

KUCHING: Where has the RM14.4 billion in forest royalties derived from logging Sarawak’s rainforest since 1980 gone?

Posing this question in the current sitting of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly, assemblyman See Chee How said the revenue seemed not to have filtered down to the masses, as the state was still grappling with poverty.

“What has happened to all the forest royalties that the state received from all the trees chopped down since 1980?

“The state government likes to claim that logging [and now oil palm] has brought development to the rural people. But, if so, why is there still so much poverty and deprivation in Sarawak?

‘Can you expect thieves to arrest themselves?’

A Sabah-based activist has accused Upko of pussyfooting
around the illegal immigrant issue.

KOTA KINABALU: The author of a book ‘Lest We Forget’ that chronicled the ‘acquisition’ of Sabah by Umno-linked authorities, who re-engineered the demographics of the state, is surprised that local leaders are now downplaying the facts.

Expressing his concern, Dr Chong Eng Leong said he was worried that even a hardline local Barisan Nasional coalition component was backing away from the controversial issue after years of championing it.

Chong is particularly incensed that state assembly representative Donald Mojuntin, the son of the late Peter Mojuntin who is lionised as a defender of Sabah’s rights, was now choosing to limit the fallout from a widely acknowledged illegal act.

TNB deal in Sabah raises eyebrows

Why is Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd paying a TNB subsidiary
RM18 million annually for routine services when it can
do the job itself?

TAWAU: The yearly payment of RM18 million to a subsidiary of national utility company Tenaga National Bhd for routine services of a power station in Sabah has come under the spotlight.

Sabah DAP chairman Jimmy Wong said state utility company, Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd, which is itself a subsidiary of TNB, must explain the rationale for the multi-million ringgit bill for maintenance checks by TNB Remaco on the Kubota Power Plant at Taman Millennium.

Wong said SESB should be able to handle the routine task without having to engage TNB Remaco for the job as has been done in the past.

“The RM18 million is only used to conduct routine operation and service. Any major breakdown is still paid by SESB.

Shafie’s wooing Yong back into BN

In a bid to unseat Musa Aman, Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal
is allegedly brokering deals with SAPP's Yong Teck Lee.

Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal is allegedly masterminding the return of former Sabah chief minister Yong Teck Lee into the Barisan Nasional and claiming he has the tacit approval of party president Najib Tun Razak to negotiate the return.

This is despite the fact that Sabah BN components distrust Yong, who is Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president.

Yong, Shafie and Joseph Ambrose Lee were partners in crime at one time. They allegedly took over the RM30-billion timber wealth of Yayasan Sabah through a share-swap. The “swap” had allegedly taken place when Yong was chief minister and Shafie a directer in Yayasan Sabah.

Hands off Gaza! Stop the massacre!

The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) condemns Israel for its latest brutal assault on the Palestinian people.

Israel has once again intensified its aggression against the Palestinian people of Gaza, by launching airstrikes since 14 Nov 2012. Israel has amassed troops on the border and threatened a ground invasion on the Gaza Strip. More than 100 Palestinians including at least 23 children have been killed since the new massacre called “Operation Pillar of Defense” began.

East Malaysia's oil will pay huge RM45bil PTPTN bad debt

With only about half of the money owed to it collected, one may think that it is time for the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) to start tightening the screws.

However, according to its chief executive officer Agos Cholan, PTPTN still wants to do things "the nice way".

"We have the nice way and the harsh way. So far, we have been quite nice and moderate. We advertise in newspapers, on billboards and hold awareness campaigns to tell the people ‘pay back, lah', and so on.

Orang Asli students slapped for refusing to recite islamic doa !

GUA MUSANG: Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo wants the education minister and the attorney-general to explain why no action has been taken against the teacher who slapped four Orang Asli children for not reciting the doa (Islamic prayer).

Such delays allow abuses to take place, Gobind said, such as the alleged attempts by teachers to pay the families of each student RM300 if they withdraw their police report.

"This is what happens when there is delay on part of the authorities in taking action. Investigations in this case would be complicated.

SELEPAS RCI, NAJIB KENA UMUM PATI VALI?

Oleh : MUTALIB M.D

SEMALAM, saya telah disiasat oleh DSP Ahmad Asmadi Hj Muhammat Salim dari Pasukan Siasatan Suruhanjaya Siasatan Di Raja (RCI) selama lebih kurang 3 jam 14 minit yang di Bilik 405, Hotel Grand Pacific, Jalan Tun Ismail, Kuala Lumpur di bawah Seksyen 16 (2) (a) Akta Suruhanjaya Siasatan 1950 (Akta 119).

Siasatan berkenaan diperlukan bagi membolehkan Panel RCI membuat keputusan sama ada saya perlu dipanggil sebagai saksi untuk memberi keterangan di hadapan Panel RCI yang akan mengadakan sidang pertama pada 14 Januari 2013 di Mahkamah Tinggi Kota Kinabalu.

Untuk makluman rakyat Sabah, saya dijemput untuk memberi kenyataan awal kepada Panel Siasatan RCI kerana saya telah menulis empat buah buku berkaitan kerakyatan songsang iaitu IC Palsu Merampas Hak Anak Sabah; Pengundi Untuk Disewa; IC Projek Agenda Tersembunyi Mahathir (?) dan 007-Lelaki Malaysia Terakhir; serta peranan saya sebagai Penulis Blog IC Palsu dan Pengendali Portal Sabahkini.net; yang sering mendedahkan isu PATI dan kerakyatan songsang.

Menurut peruntukan Seksyen 16 (2) (a) Akta Suruhanjaya Siasatan 1950 memberikuasa kepada Pendakwa Raya untuk membantu Pesuruhjaya;

‘Virgin Mary’ image handed over to Church

The removal of the window panes was carried out by
professionals with due care, safety and caution.

PETALING JAYA: The Sime Darby Medical Centre Subang Jaya (SDMC SJ) has removed and handed over two window panes from the North Tower of the hospital complex to the Catholic Church.

One of the panes has on it marks that some claim resemble artistic depictions of Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

“SDMC SJ had agreed to hand over the window panes at the request of the Church. ”

“The removal of the window panes was carried out by professionals with due care, safety and caution exercised throughout the process, which started at 10 am and ended without incident at 11.35 am,” the medical centre said in a statement today.

Jeffrey paints bleak scenario on Sabah

The STAR chairman doesn't buy the BN propaganda that
the state is not in the grip of grinding poverty.

By Joe Fernandez

Sabah strongman Jeffrey Kitingan isn’t buying the increasingly shrill propaganda barrage emanating from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition… that the influx of foreign labour into Sabah provides the clearest proof that there’s continuing development in the state and that it isn’t the poorest in the country as depicted by recent figures.

It’s an issue being flogged to death by both sides of the political divide in Sabah and Sarawak.

Jeffrey surprisingly waxed more eloquently than usual late this week in the local media on a nightmare scenario in the state. He hesitated in the temptation, for once, to go as usual all over the place. The opposition, he hastened to add, wasn’t being blind to the reality and accused the state government of being in a state of denial on Sabah’s “grinding poverty”.