Sarawak MPs see November state polls

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 — Speculation is rife among Sarawak MPs that the state assembly will be dissolved in November to pave way for state elections in which Barisan Nasional (BN) is expected to retain power while ceding ground to Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

The 2011 Budget announcement tomorrow is also expected to give added emphasis to the East Malaysian state to provide the catalyst for a dissolution of the state assembly early next month.

While BN is in no danger of losing the state government, winning by a two-thirds majority in the 71-seat chamber seems unlikely if the PR coalition of DAP, PKR and PAS perform as predicted.

DAP is expected to win most of the 17 Chinese-majority seats in Sarawak, but not without a hard fight as was seen in the recent Sibu by-election, which has a 76 per cent Chinese majority but was won marginally by DAP.

The Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), in trouble with Chinese voters since 2006, is being told that BN will be able to form the next state government without a single contribution from it.

This is the message going out to the party from Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Taib Mahmud, who must call state polls by June next year.

Chinese majority seats were traditionally contested by the Chinese-based SUPP, which, like the MCA and Gerakan in Peninsular Malaysia, has lost the support of the community’s urban voters for its perceived deference to the Bumiputera-based Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB).

Taib has convinced Putrajaya it could not afford to go into battle without him � file pic.

PBB president Taib will be leading the state BN into battle and is expected to sweep the non-Chinese seats together with the smaller Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP).

Despite pressure from Kuala Lumpur to retire and put a new face in charge to win both urban and rural support, Taib, despite continued allegations of corruption, has convinced the federal government that it risked losing the entire state if he was not in place — a blow they can ill-afford with the country seen to be on the cusp of a general election.

“The thinking is that while Barisan is set to lose the urban Chinese vote, without Taib they might also lose the rural Iban vote and lose the government as well,” a Sarawak Barisan leader said.

“We are set on the lesser of the two evils, lose Chinese votes and still win the government or lose Taib and lose everything.”

“This argument has won the day because all the corruption allegations are only an issue with urban voters in Sarawak and elsewhere in Malaysia. It is not an issue in rural Sarawak where development is the main and only issue,” he added.

Another BN leader believed Taib could still deliver a needed victory for the coalition, “Here Taib is still strong and can pull the votes for one final time.”

However, BN’s ability to dominate the state assembly will be in doubt if the PKR and PAS also do as well as the DAP is expected to.

But observers say PKR in Sarawak was in disarray and heavily splintered along ethnic and religious lines, even with Baru Bian — a lawyer, anti-corruption champion and defender of native land rights — leading.

It was further alleged that “operatives” have infiltrated the state PKR and were likely to spark splinter groups, further weakening the party.

Such breakaways are a phenomenon in Sarawak politics that has traditionally been employed to weaken the opposition while burnishing the image of the ruling coalition.

PAS, on the other hand, has yet to make inroads into Sarawak politics because Islam is not a political force in the state as it was in Kelantan or Terengganu.

This is the case even in Muslim majority areas, and if PAS is to win, it will need help from DAP and, to a lesser extent, PKR.

“It might win one seat,” said a DAP leader, “if we agree to give up a marginal Chinese seat to them.”

DAP’s weakness is that although it is a nominally a multi-racial party, it prefers to contest only in Chinese majority areas where it has formed branches and established a network.

“We left organisational work in Malay/Muslim/Iban areas in the interior to PKR,” said the DAP leader. “Problem is they (PKR) are weak and fractured and have not organised anything.”

“So you can guess the results (election outcome),” he said.

TMI

Galas : PAS lancar gerak kerja 19 Oktober

KUALA LUMPUR, 14 Okt : PAS Kelantan akan melancarkan gerak kerja bagi Pilihan Raya Kecil (PRK) Dun Galas pada 19 Oktober ini bertempat di bandar Gua Musang.

Ketua Penerangan PAS Kelantan, Dr Muhammad Fadzli Hassan berkata, senarai nama calon sudah ada di pengetahuan PAS Pusat dan Kelantan akur dengan keputusan itu.

Beliau yang juga Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Penerangan, Pembangunan Maklumat, Sains dan Teknologi negeri berkata demikian ketika ditemui di Rumah Sri Kelantan, di sini ketika menghadiri Mesyuarat Exco Kerajaan Negeri, malam tadi.

“Bagi kita di dalam PAS, senarai nama yang dihantar tersebut adalah semuanya berkelayakan, namun ia terpaksa dibuat pilihan oleh Majlis Syura dan kita harap semua pihak akan menerima sesiapa sahaja yang akan menjadi calon PAS di Galas nanti,” katanya.

Menyentuh jentera parti, Muhammad Fadzli berkata, PAS sudah mempunyai banyak pengalaman dan selepas PRU ke-12 hingga kini sudah memasuki 12 PRK dan kesemuanya PAS melibatkan diri,walaupun sebagai pembantu kepada parti gabungan dalam Pakatan Rakyat.

“Kita juga yakin jentera PAS dari seluruh negeri akan turun sebaik mungkin dan ini member kekuatan semangat kepada PAS Kelantan dalam PRK Galas ini,” ujarnya lagi.

Ketika ditanya tindakan masyarakat Orang Asli yang ingin menggunakan jentera mereka sendiri dalam membantu PAS dalam PRK nanti, beliau berkata ini menggambarkan mereka sudah memahami dasar yang dibawa oleh parti dan kerajaan Kelantan.

Katanya, mereka kini sudah tidak boleh lagi dipergunakan oleh pihak tertentu dalam menentukan calon yang mereka sukai.

“Amat bagus saranan dari ketua masyarakat Orang Asli di Gua Musang tersebut dan di pihak kerajaan, tugas memberi penerangan dan menyebarkan maklumat perlu diteruskan sepanjang masa dan ia tidak hanya dalam musim pilihanraya saja,” ujar beliau lagi.

Tambahnya, tanggapan orang ramai terhadap masyarakat Orang Asli yang masih tidak mempunyai pendidikan dan lemah, kini sudah tidak tepat lagi.

“Mereka kini sudahpun mempunyai pengetahuan terhadap dasar yang dibawa oleh kerajaan Kelantan.

“Ini terbukti dengan usaha pihak kerajaan yang telah melantik wakil mereka dalam Majlis Daerah Gua Musang dan wakil mereka ini sering memberi pandangan yang agak bernas dan boleh diterima pakai,” katanya.

Beliau berkata, tanggungjawab kerajaan memberi penerangan mengenai pelbagai maklumat kepada masyarakat Orang Asli tidak dipinggirkan.

Harakahdaily

Tumpahan bahan kimia merbahaya, air Sungai Rejang tidak selamat diminum?

SIBU 14 Okt - Fenomena kebanjiran lebih 300,000 meter padu sisa kayu dan balak yang menyekat laluan air di Sungai Rejang sejak 7 Oktober lalu sudah berakhir namun persoalan paling penting yang tidak dijawab oleh kerajaan negeri Barisan Nasional Sarawak ialah samada air sungai tersebut selamat diminum.

Menurut sumber industri pembalakan di Putai, ratusan ribu penduduk yang tinggal disepanjang Sungai Rejang kini terdedah dengan bahaya keracunan dan pencemaran disebabkan bahan kimia yang hanyut bersama himpunan kayu kayan yang hanyut di dalam sungai tersebut.

Suara Keadilan difahamkan akibat banjir besar yang menjadi punca berlakunya himpunan kayu kayan tersebut, bahan kimia merbahaya seperti perawat kulat (fungicide), glue dan diesel dipercayai telah di bawa oleh arus banjir ke dalam sungai.

"Pembalak selalunya akan membina 'log pond' untuk menyimpan balak yang telah ditebang sebelum diangkut oleh jentera berat ke dalam 'tug boat' melalui jalan air. Tersimpan di dalam 'log pond' ini juga beratus-ratus tong yang menyimpan perawat kulat.

"Terdapat juga kilang-kilang papan lapis yang menggunakan bahan perekat dalam proses pembuatan dan bahan ini juga dipercayai turut memasukki sistem ekologi Sungai Rejang dalam banjir itu," kata sumber tersebut.

Sungai Rejang yang merupa sungai terpanjang di Malaysia dengan jarak 350 kilometer menjadi nadi kehidupan kepada beberapa bandar utama dan lebih 1,000 kampung dan desa yang menampung ratusan ribu penduduk negeri Sarawak.

Antara bandar penting yang mendapat bekalan air secara terus dari Sungai Rejang termasuk Pelabuhan Tanjung Manis, Sarikei (50,000 penduduk), Bintangor (30,755), Sibu (126,000), Kanowit (28,000), Ngemah (dalam Kanowit), Song (22,200) dan Kapit (100,000).

Air yang sedut dari bandar-bandar ini kemudiannya di salurkan ke Salim di Sibu untuk dirawat.

Sebarang pencemaran air di Sungai Rejang dikatakan akan menjejaskan bukan sahaja sumber air minuman di Sarawak malah memberi kesan kepada industri perikanan di kawasan itu.

"Kerajaan negeri mesti mengambil langkah segera untuk membuat kajian di makmal bagi memastikan air minuman dari sumber Sungai Rejang selamat diminum dan juga ikan yang dimakan tidak mengandungi bahan kimia merbahaya," kata sumber itu lagi.

Terdapat dakwaan sisa kayu kayan yang sudah terkumpul di Putai itu hasil pembalakan haram di kawasan pendalaman sarawak yang bersempadan dengan Kalimantan sejak 10 tahun dahulu.

"Banyak aktiviti pembalakan haram berlaku di kawasan pendalaman Sarawak tapi malangnya tidak ada pemantauan satu usaha untuk membanteras gejala ini.

"Kerosakan yang berlaku disebabkan himpunan kayu itu malah lebih besar berbanding statistik rasmi yang dilaporkan," ujar sumber itu.

Menurut Timbalan Ketua Menteri, Tan Sri Dr George Chan dua jambatan Bailey serta lima terjeti rosak dalam kejadian itu mengakibatkan kerugian bernilai RM2.7 juta sahaja.

SK

Dewan Pemuda PAS cabar BN

IPOH - Dewan Pemuda Pas Negeri mencabar Kerajaan Negeri mendedahkan senarai syarikat pembalakan semasa pemerintahan Pakatan Rakyat (PR) dengan melakukan perkara sama semasa pemerintahan Barisan Nasional (BN) dahulu dan kini.

Ketuanya, Zawawi Hassan berkata, pihaknya tidak gentar berkenaan surat layang yang mendakwa mempunyai senarai syarikat pembalakan itu.

“Kita sedia menyahut kesediaan Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir yang bersetuju mendedahkan senarai syarikat sekiranya diminta oleh rakyat.

“Dewan Pemuda yakin Datuk Seri Ir Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin bersedia disiasat Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) sekiranya benar dakwaan BN terhadap PR,” katanya kepada Sinar Harian, semalam.

Zawawi berkata, Dewan Pemuda juga sedia mengadakan pentas debat antara Zambry dan Nizar untuk mendedahkan penyelewengan yang dibangkitkan itu.

“Ini bagi membuktikan siapa sebenarnya telus dalam mengurus kewangan negeri untuk rakyat.

“Dr Zambry juga perlu berani mendedahkan syarikat yang dikuasai BN dalam mendapatkan konsesi balak,” katanya.

Terdahulu, Zambry mengakui berkenaan surat layang yang dipercayai tersebar luas dalam kalangan pemimpin DAP berhubung rasuah membabitkan konsesi balak sebanyak RM21.5 juta.

Dalam pada itu, Setiausaha Dewan Pemuda, Dr Raja Ahmad Al- Hiss kecewa sikap tidak profesional pihak SPRM menjadikan laporan media sebagai asas untuk menyiasat pemerintahan PR selama 11 bulan.

“SPRM sepatutnya tidak berpihak dalam memastikan pandangan rakyat terhadap keadilan dan ketelusan sebenar mereka,” katanya.

Katanya, SPRM perlu menyiasat perkara sama semasa pemerintahan BN dulu dan kini.

PAS berjuang perpaduan sudah lama : Ammar

SH

Sarawak's Demokorupsi

COMMENT The desecration of the huge Rejang (also known as Rajang) river by wasted logs and driftwood has raised the alarm, throughout Malaysia, about the environmental degradation that has been taking place throughout Sarawak during chief minister Taib Mahmud’s three decades in power.

Even though TV3 and RTM have tried to suppress the news of this ecological and economic disaster, photos and eyewitness accounts have drawn an enormous audience. Shocking photos posted on Hornbill Unleashed drew more than 10,000 views, and many angry comments, over a couple of days.

Yet many rural Sarawakians have already known, for many years, the hardship caused by industrial scale logging. Photos still hang in upriver longhouses of young men standing waist deep in rivers, proudly showing off their catch of huge semah fish caught in clear waters, a decade or two ago. But the murky, polluted rivers no longer provide for them.

Once logging tracks cut into the forests, hunters follow in four-wheel-drive vehicles, using shotguns and searchlights at night. They shoot every animal in sight, for profit or for sport. Forest dwellers need to hunt these animals to survive, but their wild game is being driven beyond their reach. Food security is a thing of the past for many communities.

Sarawak’s celebrated environmental protection laws have never been more than window dressing, because no political will exists to uphold the laws.

Official regulators co-operate with loggers and other polluters, out of fear of their political masters, or because the officials are also on the take.

State forestry and environmental agencies fall under Taib’s direct control as minister of planning and natural resources. Federal authorities ignore the rampant environmental vandalism in Sarawak’s hydro-electric dams, logging concessions and plantations, as long as Taib’s Barisan Nasional (BN) continues to deliver around 30 parliamentary seats in every general election.

The reason for our public officials’ inertia over the environmental destruction in our state is simple. Corruption has taken over the day-to-day running of our state. Politicians and government officials make fortunes from logging companies, dam builders and plantations.

The government tells us the rotting wood floated down the Rejang from the Baleh, upstream. This is because the polluters in the upper reaches of the Baleh and Rejang – loggers and dam-builders – are immune to the law. These businessmen pull strings, and their puppets in the government, such as James Masing and Len Talif Salleh, wave their hands and talk.

It is revealing that Taib, the minister responsible for natural resources, logging, the construction of the enormous dams, Sarawak Forestry and the NREB, claims to have no idea about the logjam catastrophe. Perhaps he does not care, or perhaps he is incompetent: either way, the minister has an obligation to resign for failing at his job.

There is speculation that Sarawak Hidro may have contributed to the logjam. Sarawak Hidro, owner of the ill-fated Bakun Dam, has been urging Taib to allow it to start filling the dam, since its monstrous losses are piling up by the day. Meanwhile, Taib is stalling until both Sarawak Hidro and the federal government agree to his price and terms for buying the Bakun white elephant. - Hornbill Unleashed

* The views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysian Mirror and/or its associates.

Pakatan Rakyat umum calon PAS 22 Oktober

KUALA LUMPUR - Pakatan Rakyat (PR) akan mengumumkan calon Pas yang bertanding di Pilihan Raya Kecil Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) Galas pada 22 Oktober depan.

Ketua Pembangkang Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim berkata, kesemua pimpinan parti seperti Presiden Pas, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang dan Penasihat DAP, Lim Kit Siang akan hadir di majlis tersebut.

Menurutnya, kesemua jentera PR termasuk jentera Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) dan DAP telah bersiap sedia bagi membantu calon Pas mengekalkan kerusi berkenaan.

“Tuan Guru Abdul Hadi Awang, Kit Siang dan saya bersama Tuan Guru (Datuk) Nik (Abdul) Aziz (Nik Mat) akan hadir dalam majlis pengumuman tersebut,” katanya dalam sidang akhbar di bangunan Parlimen, semalam.

Sementara itu, Hadi yang juga Ahli Parlimen Marang memberitahu, senarai calon telah diserahkan oleh Jawatankuasa Pas Pusat kepada Dewan Harian Pas yang bermesyuarat malam tadi.

“Malam ini (malam tadi) parti akan putuskan siapa calon Pas yang akan bertanding, dan kita akan umum pada 22 Oktober nanti.

“Calon yang kita akan pilih bukan sahaja mempunyai ketokohan, malah juga sesuai dengan keperluan lapangan,” katanya ketika ditemui di lobi parlimen.

Dalam perkembangan lain, Anwar berkata, calon PR bagi pilihan raya kecil Parlimen Batu Sapi akan ditentukan kepada Majlis pimpinan PR Sabah yang kan bermesyuarat selepas mengetahui tarikh pilihan raya tersebut.

“Kita telah mendapat penjelasan dari PR Sabah mengenai Batu Sapi, dan mereka akan bermesyuarat setelah Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) umum tarikh,” katanya.

Beliau turut memberitahu bahawa satu Persidangan Menteri Besar dan Ketua Menteri yang akan di adakan di Shah Alam pada 29 November ini.

SH