{"id":6252,"date":"2013-10-28T19:25:07","date_gmt":"2013-10-28T11:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/?p=6252"},"modified":"2013-10-30T15:53:03","modified_gmt":"2013-10-30T07:53:03","slug":"sandakan-and-sabah-deserves-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/sandakan-and-sabah-deserves-better\/","title":{"rendered":"Sandakan and Sabah deserve better!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sandakan native and its MP Stephen Wong sketches some of the issues besetting Sandakan and Sabah and what the authorities need to address to revive this formerly richest city in the world and also for Sabah.<\/em><\/p>\n

Lost glory<\/strong>
\n\u201cI have been staying in Sandakan almost all my life. Sandakan was once an affluent city; now it is a pale shadow of its former glory. Many of the young have left the city for greener pastures in Peninsular Malaysia and overseas. There are not much good and lucrative job opportunities for them here,\u201d Stephen laments.<\/p>\n

A policy that was initially launched in Lahad Datu in 2005 and later in Sandakan to develop Sabah\u2019s abundant palm oil resources, the much touted Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) initiative has been no more than an empty shell.<\/p>\n

Stephen said that due to bad policy and implementation, crude palm oil is still being exported from Sandakan and Sabah without downstream processing. \u201cWith downstream processing it would have added more high-paying job opportunities for the professionals and generate wealth for more people around here.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the receiving end<\/strong>
\nAnother bane for Sabah is the cabotage issue that affects Sabah indiscriminately. \u201cSabahans have to fork out more for imported goods due to this arbitrary and protectionist policy. Yet our average income is lower than the Peninsular Malaysia. It doesn\u2019t help for us to achieve high income status when Sabah is suffering disproportionately more from the inflation problem,\u201d he points out.<\/p>\n

Another issue that has plagued Sabah, especially in the east coast area is the power outages. \u201cDue to bad planning and political interference, Sandakan and almost the entire east coast of Sabah has been suffering from frequent power blackouts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the information we gathered, there are no spare capacity for electricity generation for the east coast of Sabah. As the power plant can\u2019t afford to do maintenance on the power plant, it has to run until it breaks down which will affect the area\u2019s power supply.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we queried the Sabah Electricity Sdn BHD (SESB, the power provider) on why don\u2019t the independent power producer (IPP) build another spare unit of power generator to generate electricity, SESB says it\u2019s the IPP\u2019s commercial consideration to [not do so],\u201d Stephen added.<\/p>\n

According to PR\u2019s 2013 Budget manifesto for Sabah, it suffers the highest incidence of electricity supply disruptions, averaging around 700 minutes per customer in 2010, nearly 10 times higher than Peninsular Malaysia.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the POIC to succeed, Sabah needs regular and reliable electricity supply. Ministers have come and gone, yet the problem remains unresolved. I will be raising this issue constantly in order to remind the government to uphold its duty to provide good infrastructure for Sabah.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sabah has also being affected by shortage of diesel supply for years, and now in the last few months it has become more acute. \u201cOff and on those who want to buy diesel will be subjected to rationing for each filling. Many lorry and truck drivers have been complaining about the rationing as they can\u2019t travel far with limited amount of diesel in the tank.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something fishy going on, as the companies tasked to distribute the diesel in Sabah aren\u2019t delivering the diesel in adequate quantities to the rural areas, despite there being no known shortages of diesel refining,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>PATI problem<\/strong>
\nAnother issue that riles Stephen is the uncontrolled influx of the illegal immigrants (PATI). \u201cThe government has been allowing the immigrants to enter Sabah without control.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result of the massive number of illegal immigrants, many of the locals\u2019 rights and privileges have been eroded. Related to that is also the rising crime rate. Sabah needs a strong voice to force the government to act on resolving the PATI issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ongoing RCI on the illegal immigrant problem is revealing a lot of issues that the government needs to tackle. Many of us are aware that they were entering unrestrictedly in order to allow certain political parties to benefit during the general elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYet after the elections they are conveniently forgotten and abandoned without any assistance. They are humans too; we need a humane solution for them.\u201d
\nSilver lining<\/strong><\/em>
\nAfter a hiatus of 27 years DAP has returned to represent the Sandakan parliamentary seat once more. However for Stephen Wong, DAP\u2019s victory in Sandakan has been bittersweet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am elated to have won the Sandakan parliamentary seat which DAP last won in 1986. However the good news was tempered by PR\u2019s bad performance in the east coast of Sabah where we lost all but one state seat. There is a lot more work to be done to bridge the gap with the reticent electorate,\u201d Stephen explains.<\/p>\n

Did the Suluk terrorist invasion of Tanduo in February 2013 had an effect on the voter\u2019s choice? \u201cBefore the GE there were many talks that the invasion would influence Muslim bumiputeras\u2019s voting direction. \u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever it was just mere talks; the free flow of money politics by certain parties at the last few days of campaigning swayed many voters\u2019 decision. Some of our own supporters reported that money was offered to them on the night eve of the elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Challenges for the Bumiputera support<\/strong>
\nDAP\u2019s constant challenge of winning the bumiputera support has continued its stubborn streak here in Sabah. \u201cThere is no doubt that BN\u2019s tactic of racial mongering had its effect on the people\u2019s perception towards DAP. This perception did hinder our campaigning outreach efforts in the Muslim areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the three state seats of Elopura, Tanjung Papat and Karamunting (located in the Sandakan and neighbouring Batu Sapi parliamentary seats) which DAP contested, we obtained slightly below 20 percent of the Muslim bumiputera support, which was below our target of 30 percent. In Elopura, we were affected by three corner fights. Overall it is still a challenge for DAP to breakthrough in the bumiputera community,\u201d Stephen added.<\/p>\n

However, there has been a silver lining since the GE. \u201cSeveral influential figures in the Muslim community were impressed with DAP\u2019s sincerity and effort to reach out to the bumiputera community. They have joined us after the GE. We have already formed two bumiputera majority branches in Kg Sim-Sim and Tanjung Papat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the GE, we see more Muslims coming to our service centre to ask for assistance to their problems. In the past, the bumiputeras were apprehensive about approaching us due to the BN\u2019s propaganda. We were dependent on our coalition partners to connect with the bumiputera community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hopefully with more concerted service and outreach efforts to connect with the community, DAP will do better in the next GE with the Bumiputeras.<\/p>\n

With this opening Stephen said that DAP is looking to organise more political education sessions and serving the bumiputera community in a sustained basis. The recruitment of many bumiputera members has certainly helped the cause.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever it\u2019s not numbers we are concerned with; we are looking at recruiting dedicated Bumiputera members, even though few in numbers, who are willing to engage their community in a more consistent and focused manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandakan DAP has lined up some bumiputera-specific programs. \u201cWe are looking at involved setting up a madrassah in the Sandakan area. We hope this is one concrete step for DAP to move forward in strengthening its multi-racial appeal and all-Malaysian creed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sandakan native and its MP Stephen Wong sketches some of the issues besetting Sandakan and Sabah and what the authorities need to address to revive this formerly richest city in the world and also for Sabah. Lost glory \u201cI have been staying in Sandakan almost all my life. Sandakan was once an affluent city; now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[306,304,305],"class_list":["post-6252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","tag-sabah","tag-sandakan","tag-stephen-wong"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6252","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=6252"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6344,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6252\/revisions\/6344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}