{"id":2587,"date":"2012-08-08T15:26:39","date_gmt":"2012-08-08T07:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/?p=2587"},"modified":"2012-08-08T15:27:37","modified_gmt":"2012-08-08T07:27:37","slug":"sarawaks-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/sarawaks-tragedy\/","title":{"rendered":"Sarawak\u2019s Tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>BN\u2019s neglect of Sarawak\u2019s citizens has been manifest since Malaysia\u2019s inception. BN\u2019s corruption here seems proportionate to Sarawak\u2019s geographical size, huge and bottomless. Sarawak\u2019s abundant wealth has clearly not filtered down to its people. Not only is the wealth vanishing, its people are also suffering physically from the governments neglect as well. This coming general election, will Sarawak\u2019s voters wake up and make the change?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/story1111.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-2592\" title=\"Bakun Dam\" src=\"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/story1111.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"286\" height=\"216\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/story1111.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/story1111-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/story1111-233x175.jpg 233w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 286px) 100vw, 286px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Story11111.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-2593\" title=\"Rejang Logjam\" src=\"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Story11111.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"309\" height=\"214\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Environmental Degradation<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Environmental NGO Wetlands International claimed that Sarawak had destroyed nearly 800,000 hectares, 10 % of its entire forest in the past five years<\/li>\n<li>It is nearly 4 times faster than Asia\u2019s forest degradation rate (2.8 %) in the same period.<\/li>\n<li>The loss include more than 330,000 hectares of peat land drained and cleared from 2005 to 2010 for palm oil plantations<\/li>\n<li>According to Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (SADIA), Malaysia\u2019 only aluminium smelter plant in Mukah, have caused serious health hazards and economic losses among the natives living adjacent to the plant.<\/li>\n<li>Health hazards from the plant\u2019s emission include breathing difficulties, coughing, dizziness, headache, skin rashes, eyesore and asthma. SADIA\u2019s request to see the DEIA report was denied<\/li>\n<li>A second aluminium smelter plant by the same company is ready for operation by end of 2012 in Samalaju, Bintulu<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/story221.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-2594\" title=\"Bruno Manser\" src=\"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/story221.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"268\" height=\"195\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/story222.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-2597\" title=\"NCR Protests\" src=\"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/story222.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"216\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Oppressing Natives<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Penans, one of the poorest native tribes, have suffered displacement and exploitation due to extensive logging activities in Sarawak\u2019 forest.<\/li>\n<li>Sarawak\u2019s treatment of Penans has received international condemnation from Prince Charles of UK and the UN.<\/li>\n<li>Bruno Manser, a well-known Swiss environment activist who has been campaigning for the Penans\u2019 plight since 1980s, has been declared missing or dead since 2001 in his last trip to Sarawak.<\/li>\n<li>There are around 1.6 million hectares of native customary reserve (NCR) land. Only 10% of it has been adjudicated to the rightful tribes. Many natives depend on NCR land for sustenance and income.<\/li>\n<li>Many NCR land have been taken by crony plantation companies. According to Baru Bian, PKR\u2019s Bakelalan ADUN, there are more than 200 NCR land dispute cases currently on trial.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Story333.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-2600\" style=\"padding-right: 20px;\" title=\"Poor Bidayuh House\" src=\"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Story333.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"235\" height=\"354\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Story333-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Story333-116x175.jpg 116w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 235px) 100vw, 235px\" \/><\/a><strong>Poverty In Land of Plenty<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sarawak\u2019s per capita GDP is RM 33,307 (2010), 2ndhighest in Malaysia. Top 20% income households earn 8.3 times that of the lowest 40 % income households, one of highest in Malaysia<\/li>\n<li>It was the world\u2019s largest exporter of tropical hardwood, earning RM 7.08 billion in revenue for 2011.<\/li>\n<li>Together with Sabah, it contributed about 40% of federal government\u2019s revenue through its oil and gas resources. 80% of Malaysia\u2019s oil and gas comes from both states.<\/li>\n<li>Ranked 4th highest poverty level in Malaysia, with 6% classified as hardcore poor. The figure is likely understated as an estimated one-third eligible residents are not documented as citizens, most of them poor.<\/li>\n<li>41% of rural households don\u2019t have piped water supply; 33% don\u2019t have regular electricity supply.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Maternal Mortality<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/story3a.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2604 alignright\" style=\"padding-left: 20px;\" title=\"Penan Mothers\" src=\"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/story3a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"254\" height=\"172\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/story3a.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/story3a-300x202.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/story3a-259x175.jpg 259w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 254px) 100vw, 254px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Although contributing the highest amount of taxes, its citizens gets one of the lowest health care per capita allocation in country (RM 422 (Sarawak) vs RM 1,800 (nation average))<\/li>\n<li>According to the blog Sarawak Report, Sarawak\u2019s maternal mortality rate is 3 times higher than its official stated figure, at 92 deaths per 100,000 births.<\/li>\n<li>Almost 30% of the state population have no access to hospitals and clinics, compared to 5% in the peninsula.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BN\u2019s neglect of Sarawak\u2019s citizens has been manifest since Malaysia\u2019s inception. BN\u2019s corruption here seems proportionate to Sarawak\u2019s geographical size, huge and bottomless. Sarawak\u2019s abundant wealth has clearly not filtered down to its people. Not only is the wealth vanishing, its people are also suffering physically from the governments neglect as well. This coming general [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cover-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}