Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News
Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News |
| Confidence tricks in Sabah politics Posted: 26 Dec 2012 03:46 PM PST
Former Chief Minister Harris Salleh's latest comments are indicative of how disengaged Sabah leaders, both past and present, are from the man on the street. Free Malaysia Today Ask almost anyone in Sabah, especially those in the Chinese business community, and they'll tell you the state's economy is in a bad way and will be so for the foreseeable future. Sabah's prized assets are in greedy hands. Its golden crop – oil palm – is losing its lustre in the commodities market, its tourism lure is messy, the prices of goods and services have gone up, property prices have sky-rocketed and where jobs are available wages are low and the infrastructure remains creaky and basic. With all this pointing to deepening economic woes, you'd think that the state's politicians who have rarely been so unpopular would be cautious about throwing stones at glass houses that they are living in. But no, its still business as usual. The constant government boot-polishing goes on as though these things don't matter. Have the state's leaders become disengaged from the people? Are they out of touch with what the man in the street thinks? Former chief minister Harris Salleh, who never misses an opportunity to give advice though he was unceremoniously booted out of government more than 27 years ago, gave some insight into the state politicians' thinking this week by heaping praise on what most would view as failure and incompetence. Speaking as though he was giving the state a Christmas present, Harris predicted more of the same from the Barisan Nasional and Chief Minister Musa Aman for Sabah after the looming 13th general election. He said BN will win in Sabah without breaking a sweat. The prediction came with the usual boot polishing and though couched in the language of the confident, sounded like a plea when he said there was a possibility that the BN might lose a few seats, especially in the urban areas where people were more in touch with what was going on. An indication that the former chief minister is aware that the ruling coalition is facing a tough time. Explaining what it has done with the years it has been given to develop the state, Harris said: "… changing from Barisan Nasional is just like the English saying jumping from the frying pan into the fire" and the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat was without "real leaders". As though reciting a mantra, he added: "Sabah under Musa has done very well. It is a well managed state. This was confirmed by the Auditor-General's report that Sabah has the best accounting system in Malaysia. Musa has also jump-started the Sabah economy from the top to the bottom. This is almost completed." But the former chief minister also said that further pain was necessary for all Malaysians for this "top to bottom" economic revamp being put in place heroicly by the current chief minister with a little help from a BN government in Putrajaya. "After this election Musa will jump-start the economy from the bottom if the federal government adopts the policy to abolish all subsidies, education and medical fees and in return pay a cash allowance of RM300 to every person. "This will immediately trigger the development of abandoned rural lands. It will also create hundreds of thousand jobs for Sabahans," he was quoted as saying. That distribution of cash, which has always been one of the former chief minister's monetary policies since his days helping Berjaya, has always led to head-scratching among the more economically prudent and will again bemuse most. Observers noted that Harris who has given candid advice about state and national governance has not dared to point out that Musa has done nothing out of the ordinary and can instead be blamed for allowing poverty to flourish during his tenure. The man who signed over Sabah's oil and gas rights in return for 5% royalty and controversially ceded the island of Labuan, which used to be part of Sabah, to the federal government, making it the second Federal Territory in the country, sees the writing on the wall for the BN and is hoping he can help starve-off defeat and perhaps protect his legacy. Sounding as though he was pleading to Sabahans he said: "With another five years there is ample time for Najib to reform both the government and Umno. "With the plan to reform, it will give time to Najib to jump-start the economy from the bottom. This means that everybody – the rural people will be given opportunities to improve and sustain their economy forever." Harris talked of "well-planned" programmes for the cultivation of both cash and permanent crops that have to be introduced in the rural areas to jump-start the economy from kampong-level and raising to the top. All this, however, borders on an insult to many who have made the best they can with poorly planned and delayed infrastructure development in the state, including in healthcare and educational services. The most controversial of the former chief minister's suggestions was that the government halt all subsidies as, he said, these were creating an artificial sense that the living standard and cost of living in Malaysia is cheap.
|
| Neither BN nor Pakatan good for Sabah, S’wak Posted: 26 Dec 2012 03:08 PM PST Declassified documents pertinent to Borneo, found in the British archives, indicate that Putrajaya's policies may be running foul of the unwritten constitution of Malaysia. Joe Fernandez, FMT Former Sabah Chief Minister Mohd Harris Salleh has never failed to appear from time to time as a bundle of contradictions to the extent of even embarrassing his own party leaders. Harris, in his defence, may be said to mean well and even acting in good faith but often this argument is nothing more than the proverbial fig-leaf. The man simply can't be allowed to get away with it too many times. It creates not just bad but dangerous precedents. Both Harris and former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad appear to be birds of a feather in more ways than one. However Harris isn't even facing the remotest danger of being hauled up by Umno — assuming he's still a member of the party given his penchant for sponsoring mosquito parties including Usno 2006 which is awaiting "registration" — on disciplinary charges for bringing it into public disrepute. This Mother of All Charges, with apologies to Saddam Hussein, is sure to cook anyone's goose for good. Harris, in the latest, put his aging foot in his mouth in making comparisons between the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (Pakatan). In remarks carried earlier this week in the local media, a seemingly worried and frustrated Harris warned Sabahans in no uncertain terms that voting in Pakatan will be like going into the fire from the frying pan (BN). Either state is not a desirable "ideal" for Sabahans. Harris however seems quite convinced that the frying pan is the lesser of two evils for Sabahans "since there's no other choice". Orang Asal — Murut and Dusun including Kadazan or urban Dusun — activists beg to disagree with Harris on his theory that "better the frying than the fire". For starters, they think the jury is still out on whether Pakatan is the fire or the frying pan, not that it makes any difference. Pakatan, in a way, might be akin to going into the frying pan from the fire (BN). Pakatan has pledged that Sabah and Sarawak will enjoy 20 per cent oil and gas royalty under its federal administration vis-a-vis the present measly five per cent they collect from the BN federal government. Agenda Borneo vs Agenda Malaya Is this what Sabahans really want after 50 years of putting up with Malaysia in the mould of the Peninsular Malaysia-dominated Putrajaya? This year alone, the federal government collected RM18 billion in oil and gas revenue from Sabah. Elsewhere, it has collected RM24 billion in other revenue. The Malaysia Agreement stipulates that 40 per cent of this combined total must be returned to the state. However, this stipulation has allegedly not been honoured since 1970, according to sources in the know. Orang Asal activists like local hero Jeffrey Kitingan are urging the people to say "enough is enough!". "Ini kali lah!", scream Sabahans who want to have nothing to do whatsoever with Putrajaya allegedly continuing to rule Sabah and Sarawak through local proxies and their stooges. "Kalau bukan sekarang, bila lagi! Kalau bukan kita siapa lagi!", they want to know. Enter the Agenda Borneo, propagated by Jeffrey's United Borneo Front (UBF), as the eternal stand against the Agenda Malaya of Putrajaya and the parti-parti Malaya operating in Borneo. The Agenda Malaya, according to Jeffrey and his people, has seen the Federation of Malaya masquerading as the Federation of Malaysia since 1963. Giving proof they cite the fact that Putrajaya claimed that Malaysia was 55 years old this year, the figure calculated from Aug 31, 1957, the day that the British advisors to the Bugis Sultans gave up their control of the Malayan Administration. As further proof they point out that Putrajaya keeps referring to Sabah and Sarawak as the 12th and 13th states and has ensured that local history text books maintain the fiction that both "nations in Malaysia" secured their independence through Malaysia on Sept 16, 1963. Malaysia has unwritten constitution Nothing could be further from the truth on the history of Malaysia, swear activists in Sabah and Sarawak. Sarawak in fact chose independence as its form of self-determination and secured that status on July 22, 1963. Sabah, likewise, chose independence as its form of independence and secured that status on Aug 31, 1963. It follows therefore that both Sabah and Sarawak entered the 1963 Federation as "independent nations" in Malaysia unlike self-governing Singapore which became independent through the new Federation. Brunei chose to remain a British protectorate rather than risk all in emulating Singapore. Brunei was proven right when Singapore left Malaysia two years later in 1965. Sabah and Sarawak, which realised that the written Constitution of Malaya was being passed off as the written Constitution of Malaysia, were not allowed by Putrajaya to follow in Singapore's footsteps and go back to solely their hard-won self-determination status of July 22, 1963 and Aug 31, 1963 respectively. Malaysia, Jeffrey and company want to tell the whole world, has an unwritten constitution based on the Batu Sumpah among other constitutional documents including the written constitution of Malaya. The other constitutional documents cited are the Inter-Governmental Committee Report (IGCR); the Cobbold Commission Report (CCR); the 20/18 Points; the informal UN survey in Sabah and Sarawak; the Malaysian Bill and the state constitutions of Sabah and Sarawak. Constitution a pandora's box STAR deputy chairman Daniel John Jambun and activist Kanul Gindol claim that they found more than 5,000 declassified documents during a month's research stint in November at the British Archives in Kew Gardens, England.
|
| You are subscribed to email updates from Malaysia Today - Your Source of Independent News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan