Digest on Malaysian News

When the Crude Oil Palm (CPO) prices is good, oil palm companies all over Malaysia is smiling to the bank. They have little to pass back to the community. We all appreciate the oil palm companies for allowing the kampung folk to use their road.

Now they are becoming stingy and claimed that the kampung folks hasten the damages to their roads and lamented that they may closed the estate roads to the public.

One of the expectation of the government when it allow the oil palm companies to develop the lands deep in the interior is to improve the economy in that particular areas including a better road. Non-gravel estate roads is better than no road.

What the oil palm companies should done (with all their powerful connection with the government and the authority) is to demand JKR to at least maintain the road and to prevent heavy vehicle like the big lorries from timber companies. I believe JKR has plenty of gravel stockpiles for road maintenance purpose. Oil palm companies should not complain about the kampong folks using their roads.

To the kampong folks, estate roads or JKR roads is still the same. A mean for them to bring their produces to the nearest bazaar in exchange for small amount of cash. And I also don't think those kampung folks have cars to ply the estate roads everyday.

From TheBorneoPost

Help maintain access road: Oil palm company

MIRI: An oil palm company is appealing to all quarters using its plantation road to sit down and find ways to maintain the upkeep of the access road linking Miri and Marudi.

A spokesman said yesterday the company had been shouldering the burden of maintaining the road which people use as an easier access as the alternative road was in a bad shape.

“We can’t go on shouldering this financial burden and the company appeals to the government, elected representatives and other oil palm companies using this stretch of the road to sit down and find a solution to this problem,” the spokesman said.

“Otherwise, the company would be forced to close this road due to financial burden in its maintenance.”

The spokesman pointed out that the company had not carried out any plantation activity there due to some land dispute, but the public using the road were directing complaints at the company now.

He hoped all quarters would understand the situation and sit down to discuss the problems and find a solution for a win-win situation.

“If we can’t do that, then the company has no choice, but to close this road to the public,” he said.

The public has been using the company’s road as it is better maintained compared to the previous route which is riddled with deep potholes and is also steep.

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River transportation in Sarawak has always played a big role in moving the rakyat from places to places and road transportation is equally important. Sadly for the case of Sarawak, roads are greatly inadequate and in most cases, roads are not upgraded despite the growing presence of the community in that place.

The same fate fell on Lundu-Biawak, west of Sarawak whereby the roads by built in 1972 but 36 years have past and the roads is still gravel-surfaced. During the 36 years period, West Malaysian have enjoyed 10 stars roads and highways but the poor community in Lundu-Biawak could only content with bumpy, rocky and dusty gravel roads.

The state government meanwhile keep pouring promises to improve the roads but with one condition, to make the Lundu district more secured first with the establishment of an army camp. Lundu is very close to the Sarawak-Indonesia border so the government think that a threat or risk is there but at the same the government think the community lives in Lundu is not worth protecting (read: cheap). Or could this excuse is just another ploy by the BN for not "investing" in a Dayak-based district. Giving the absence of an army camp in Lundu as an excuse is Catch 22. No army camp, no better roads. Save money for the development of Malay-based district. Pretty obvious.

The Member of Parliament representing the Lundu district is also not from Lundu or staying in Lundu, so again, he don't feel the suffering of the community there. What the community should do next is to lobby for an MP from their own district. Better still if they can get Taib Mahmud to represent their constituency.

Related posts:
* Bario highlands dilemma
* What's is wrong with roads in Malacca

From Selako Bato: Lundu-Biawak Road: Nothing much changed since 1972.

Lundu-Biawak Road has been in existence since the year 1972. It was built by the Engineering Corps of the Malaysian Armed Forces. The main purpose of the road (at that time) was to allow for easy movement of troops to fight the communist guerrillas and to make it easy for (Malaysian) folks living along that area to go to Lundu town to buy their daily necessities.

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The community in the Bario highlands in the far corner of Sarawak is in a real dilemma as there is an ongoing hot debate whether roads should be built to connect the Bario highlands to the outside world.

For ages, the community of Bario are deprive of modern amenities, higher prices of fuel, higher price of fertilizers, food and other daily necessities and construction materials as the supply of those item are like gold. Items are flown in by flight and that make the items very expensive. The alternative transportation out of Bario is via timber tracks built by those giant timber companies and over the years, those tracks have joined and extended further to reach Bario.

To the settlers of Bario, the timber tracks are their highway. Dirt highway. Now they want the timber company Samling to built a proper roads linking Miri to Bario so that the usual timber track journey of 13 hours can be reduced as well as to make it safer. Samling might just agreed to this as they can extract timbers along the way (or making the road construction as an excuse to cut down timbers or cutting down trees in lieu of payment in kind).

Bario settlers are not overly concerned about the environmental impact as since the time of Ling Liong Sik (former Minister of Transport) and Samy Vellu (former Minister of Works) in addition to Alfred Jabu, tonnes of promises were made but there is still no proper roads to Bario. Yes, the government under Barisan Nasional did not keep their promises to their voters in Bario.

Environmental watchdog group Borneo Resources Institute says the 300km-long road, which will lead to Miri City, will permanently damage the environment and result in more forests being logged. There also great concerns that the road is an excuse for opening the whole of the Bario highlands for timber extraction.

On the other hand, Ba’Kelalan assemblyman Nelson Balang Rining, in welcoming the construction of the road, says “it will open up the entire Bario highlands for socio-economic development for more than 5,000 highlanders”. It will facilitate easier transportation of fuel and food into the remote highland settlements.

Related posts:
* Longhouse dwellers in Sungai Asap deprived of good road
* What's is wrong with roads in Malacca

From The Star

Logging road in Bario stirs debate

MIRI: The construction of a logging road into the Bario highlands in northern Sarawak has stirred debate over its benefits.

Environmental watchdog group Borneo Resources Institute says the 300km-long road, which will lead to Miri City, will permanently damage the environment and result in more forests being logged.

“This will spell the end of the pristine nature of Bario. We were caught off-guard by news that the road has already been built all the way to the top of the Bario highlands.

“The Bario highlands is a fragile and ecologically-important region,” says institute coordinator for Sarawak, Raymond Abin.

He said he learnt that the road was constructed by a timber company and asked whether this meant that the firm had been given the right to harvest the timber.

“We are worried that the road is an excuse for opening the whole of the Bario highlands for timber extraction,” he told The Star.

Ba’Kelalan assemblyman Nelson Balang Rining, in welcoming the construction of the road, says “it will open up the entire Bario highlands for socio-economic development for more than 5,000 highlanders”.

“The road will be an important link for the people of the highlands to the outside world. It will open up accessibility to settlements which were once only linked by flights.

“It will facilitate easier transportation of fuel and food into the remote highland settlements,” he said, adding that the journey from Miri to Bario via the logging road would take at least 13 hours.

The Bario highlands is similar in geography to Genting High-lands. Populated by the Lun Ba-wang and Kelabit minority ethnic groups, Bario is well-known for its fragrant rice and tourism spots.

Balang said the road was being built by Samling Corporation.

“It is the people’s wish to see the road eventually being upgraded. I hope the government can ‘adopt’ the road and improve on it,” he said.

To a question, Balang said the road did not infringe into any national park or forest reserve.

Abin said his institute wanted the state government to disclose if logging concessions had been given out in the Bario highlands and if any environmental impact assessment had been carried out before the construction of the road.

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From The Star

‘Bario communities wanted the logging road’
By STEPHEN THEN

MIRI: The Sarawak government had to allow a logging road built all the way into the remote Bario highlands to ensure villagers had access to goods and fuel at lower prices and to prevent future shortages of necessities.

Ba'Kelalan state assemblyman Nelson Balang Rining said on Thursday that the road was constructed after the highland communities had discussed the matter. "The people of Bario discussed this issue at length. They decided that the logging road had to be built. This logging road built by Samling Corporation has connected Bario all the way to Miri. "It will facilitate smoother transport of large amount of food, goods and fuel from Miri to Bario. This will help to ensure enough supply of these neccessities in the highlands. "An ample supply of these goods will help to bring down the price of these commodities in the highlands.

“At present, suppliers have to pay huge overhead costs just to transport these items to Bario by flights and by land from other smaller towns. "That is why the prices of fuel, food and other daily necessities and construction materials in Bario are five times more expensive than in urban areas of Sarawak.

"This logging road will eventually help to reduce the prices and ensure constant stable supply at all times," he told The Star.

Balang was responding to the concerns expressed by environmental-watchdog group Borneo Resources Institute concerning the 300km-long logging road that had been built right to the summit of the 1,600 metres high mountain.

Institute coordinator for Sarawak, Raymond Abin, had said the construction of this road might result in more highland forests being logged.

The clearing of the Bario forests would irreparably damage the ecosystem and alter the weather pattern, Abin had said. The institute had also questioned why the construction of the Miri-Bario logging road had not been made public before building began and why an environmental-impact assessment study was not done beforehand. Balang responded on Wednesday that as far as he knew, the logging road built by Samling Corporation did not to be gazetted publicly.

"There is no need for any public announcement of the project because it is built by a private company. It is Samling's right to construct the road following the request from the people of Bario," he said.

Asked if the construction of the logging road into the highlands required an EIA, Balang said that he was not sure about this matter. On concerns that the interior's ecology and weather system would be damaged permanently, he said his main concern now was to help alleviate the hardship suffered by his constituents as much as possible.


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The people of Ba Kelalan has been sucked into a vicious cycle of waiting games whereby the candidate from the Barisan Nasional will promise projects and roads if Ba Kelalan voted for Barisan. The promises were pledged during every election campaign.

Now that the Barisan has won, the candidate said he will promise to bring the matters to the state cabinet and the relevant authorities. Another waiting games until the next election. He should have brought the matters years ago not when he was reminded by the people.

The vicious cycle thus look like this:
1). Promises were made during election campaign in exchange for votes.
2). The people voted. The candidate won.
3). The winner said he already look at the matter.
4). The people waiting for the deliverables.
5). Election comes.
6). REPEAT STEP #1.

As for Ba Kelalan request for other assistance to help them with their agricultural activities, help will not come so soon and it's best for them to help each other to overcome the problem while waiting for the Agriculture Department to organize themselves.






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Source: theborneopost.com/?p=36188

Ba Kelalan folk want road links speeded up

MIRI: The people of Ba Kelalan are appealing to the authority to speed up the building of roads linking several villages in Bario, which is crucial for the economic development in the Kelabit Highlands.

Among the villages making the request through their assemblyman, Nelson Balang, are Pa’ Ukat, Pa’ Umur and Pa’ Lungan.

Nelson, accompanied by several members of his party, Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party, including Cr Chiew Yen Chew the party’s Women’s wing chief, was in Bario recently, to meet up with the people, where the request was formally conveyed to him.

On his part, Nelson said he would forward their request to the state cabinet and the relevant authorities for their consideration.

The villagers also told him of their interest to actively participate in rice cultivation to meet the country’s rice need, but lamented the lack of manpower because the younger people have migrated to bigger towns and cities looking for greener pastures.

This has led to many of the landowners to hire Indonesians from Kalimantan to work in their paddy fields while many others abandoned their holdings.

“The abandoned paddy fields are breeding ground of rats, which would ‘terrorise’ fields that are planted with padi,” Nelson said.

The villagers have requested government agencies, particularly Agriculture Department, to look into the possibility of providing them with ploughing machines and building proper irrigation system to beat the manpower shortage, especially in Pa’ Remapuk. They also wanted a permanent agriculture officer to be stationed in Bario to assist in the eradication of pests and rodents.

The villagers also highlighted the problem in regards to the registration of births and application of identity cards.

Nelson also attended the annual general meeting of the party’s Bario sub-branch, where Bujang Long was elected as the chairman.

While the government AND Petronas are enjoying free money from East Malaysia oil and gas sales, and while the West Malaysian are enjoying super highways, LRT, Monorail, moderns malls, hotels and other infrastructures, the dwellers of longhouses in Sungai Asap are deprived of good roads.

The dwellers of those longhouses were resettled there to make way for the construction of multi-billion Ringgit Bakun hydro-dam. Once completed, the beneficiaries of the Bakun hydro-dam will be Tenaga Nasional, SESCO and orang malaya.

What has become of the fate of the natives who was chased away from the project site and resettled at Sungai Asap ? Like shit. They have lost their land and yeah, the land compensation money is probably all spend out. In addition, their new settlement is being ignored and the spot light now is more focusing on how much SESCO will charge Tenaga Nasional and Sarawak Aluminium Company on the electricity tariff. Sarawak Aluminium Company is jointly owned by global miner, Rio Tinto Ltd and Taib's Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd.

The authorities which include the state JKR , YB Billy Abit Joo - the MP of Hulu Rajang and ADUN for that area are all a bunch of hopeless. Even the road leading to the Sungai Asap resettlement are over-used by huge timber trucks and that make you wonder if Taib is making the road for the Sungai Asap resettlement or for the timber companies. Yeah, Taib does have direct and indirect shares on those timber companies.

Updates:
* May 16, 2008: Sungai Asap resident calls for ACA probe
* Jun 10, 2008: Billy Abit received his Datukship while Sg Asap dwellers rewarded with muddy roads

Related posts:
* What's is wrong with roads in Malacca




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Source: theborneopost.com/?p=35405 (May 13, 2008)

Sungai Asap folk urge govt to repair road

By Danny Wong

SIBU: Residents from 15 longhouses in the Sungai Asap resettlement area near Bakun are appealing to the relevant authority to repair and maintain the Bintulu-Sungai Asap Road.

Speaking on their behalf, Danny Bungan, welfare chairman of the village security and development committee (JKKK) of Rumah Belor said many stretches along the road were now riddled with potholes and in deplorable state.

“The road has not been maintained for a long time,” he said.

Danny added to make matters worse, the settlers numbering about 10,000 share the road with trailers and giant timber lorries belonging to companies operating in the area.

“Those of us driving in smaller cars really feel intimidated by these lorries. We are wondering whether these lorries should be allowed to share the road as we feel, they should for the safety of the public, use alternative roads,” he said.

Danny said many requests for repair of the road had been made to the government but he regretted so far nothing much had been done.

He said it was extremely dangerous to use the road at night especially when it rained.

A number of accidents had happened when drivers trying to avoid the potholes, braked their vehicles and skidded due to the slippery or uneven surfaces.

“We really hope the government can do something about the road as soon as possible as Gawai Dayak holidays are approaching and traffic along this road will increase,” he pointed out.