Tak Tahu Atau Buat Tak Tahu

Sama ada tidak mengetahui hak sebagai rakyat ataupun memang sengaja tak mahu tahu hanya mereka yang mampu menjawabnya dengan tepat.

Menurut statistic yang dikeluarkan oleh SPR terlalu ramai penduduk Sarawak yang telah layak untuk mengundi tidak mendaftar sebagai pengundi.

Menurut Pengerusi SPR Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof sebagaimana yang dipetik oleh Berita Bernama tanggal 17th Nov, daripada sejumlah 1.4 juta penduduk di Sarawak yang layak mengundi hanya 930,888 orang sahaja yang berdaftar sebagai pengundi. Selebihnya iaitu sejumlah kira kira 476,000 masih belum berdaftar.

Menurut beliau, mereka ini mungkin mengambil sikap tidak peduli atau juga mungkin tidak menyedari tentang kepentingan hak mereka sebagai pengundi. Mungkin pada pandangan mereka mendaftar sebagai pengundi tidak akan membawa apa apa perubahan dalam politik Negara.

Oleh yang demikian SPR terpaksa melancarkan pelbagai program untuk mengesan mereka yang layak untuk mendaftarkan diri sebagai pengundi. Antaranya program mendekatkan diri kepada orang ramai dengan membuka kaunter di tempat awam.

Debate Speech By YB Andy Chia Chu Fatt , ADUN N-64 Pujut

I’m pleased to read below debate speech by YB Andy Chua ADUN N-64 Pujut Miri.
I guess some of the issues he raised really need an urgent attention from the government. Drain system maintenance is one of the issue that should be looked seriously by the concern authority. With the monsoon season coming soon most of the drain systems in Miri needs to be upgraded urgently especially in the areas where flash flood always incurred during heavy down pour. Drain system around Piasau and Taman Yakin are some of those areas.

Personally I will say that in general he has brought up the Mirian peoples needs and concerns. I’m sure the Mirian peoples are looking forwards for it to bear fruitful result not just for the betterment of Miri peoples but also for all Sarawakian in general.

Debate Speech By YB Andy Chia Chu Fatt , ADUN N-64 Pujut
Supply (2010) Bill, 2009

Thank you Datuk Sri Speaker for giving me the opportunity to join other honourable members of this august House to debate on the Supply (2010) Bill, 2009.

I wish to congratulate YAB Chief Minister and Minister of Finance for tabling yet another balance budget and achieving an eighth consecutive year of clean bill of health by the Auditor General. Although we enjoy a strong financial position, we need to exercise prudence and good management of resources to ensure that we remain a financially strong state. It is indeed heartening to note that the Budget Speech has emphasized on the civil service being disciplined and the importance of exercising stringent control over expenditures.

The State’s revenue relies substantially on the compensation in lieu of oil & gas rights of RM1,220 million which forms about 34% of the total revenue of RM3579 million for 2010. Oil & gas are gradually depleting resources unless new fields are found. It is therefore of utmost importance that we diversify our revenue base. The successful implementation of SCORE is therefore of paramount importance as this will likely create a new revenue base for the state coffers. We must also look into other source of revenue for the State coffers in the future so that we can continue to maintain development growth.
The early generation housing estates in Miri are around 30 years old. The infrastructure in these housing estates are in urgent need of repairs and maintenance.

Drains and roads will eventually give problems as to their functionality. The Miri City Council does not have the finance to carry out repairs and maintenance in a large scale. It will need assistance from either the State or the Federal government to provide financial grants to enable it to carry out the repairs and maintenance. I hope the State government and Federal government will provide funds for such expenses.

Although the State is given oil & gas royalty of 5%, we must convince the Federal government to provide additional funding from its oil & gas revenue to assist the State to improve its infrastructure. The Federal government must realize that Sarawak is almost the size of Peninsular Malaysia, & it therefore requires much larger budget to build various infrastructure, including the highway that links Kuching to Miri, & to Lawas. This ‘pan Borneo’ highway needs to be upgraded for the convenience of road users and also to ensure that it is safer for motorists.

Internet Connection Services
The internet has become a very important form of communications and information for the Sarawak people. The usage has gain tremendous popularity over the years. The fixed line internet services have by far been the most popular. The internet is not only widely used for social communications, researches, information gathering and casual recreational & pastime tool, it is now widely used for businesses communications and education. The popularity of fixed line internet services has created a ‘congestion’ of the internet facilities. Fixed line services are of course the monopoly of a company called Telekom Malaysia. The internet services in Miri are often very slow and break down occasionally. Telekom Malaysia as a monopoly company should look into the services in Miri. It must be a responsible monopoly company. Otherwise, the government ought to break the monopoly so that better services are provided to the people. The slow internet speed and occasional breakdowns have caused great inconveniences to all users. Business communications have suffered as a result. I urge Telekom Malaysia to quickly look into the problems in Miri and put in place a long term solution to eradicate the problems.

I am indeed delighted to read the recent announcement by YAB Prime Minister that more than 1.2 million households and business premises in the country will be wired up with optical fibre to enable them to access mega-speed internet connection. It was mentioned that Telekom Malaysia has been tasked with laying the optical fibre and is expected to complete half by next year. I hope Miri will be included in the program.

Landslides in Miri in 2009
Abnormal weather in January and April 2009 was devastating for the people in Sarawak as floods and landslides caused death and damaged properties. The major landslides along the Canada Hill in Miri caused the death of two workers in a petrol station and damaged a number of houses at Kampong Lering Bukit. While we see massive earth work to repair the site of the petrol station, the site of the houses at Kampong Lering Bukit have been left largely untouched. It is understandable that there is fear amongst both the authorities and the house occupants that it may not be safe to return to the homes without a satisfactory report to indicate that it is safe to return to do so. I hope the relevant authority will expedite the process of safety assurance or come out with a swift long term solution for the kampong people who are affected by the landslides as they have been staying in temporary homes through the generosity of the government and its agencies for more than six months now.

The abnormal weather had also caused damages to few other parts of the Canada Hill this year. Part of the road that leads to the SIB Church and Methodist Church on top the Canada Hill near to the St Joseph’s Primary School, Miri, was badly damaged due to the land slide. The road has become unsafe for road users and church goers. A few thousands Christians use the road to go to their churches every week. The church leaders are concern for the safety of the road. Up to now, due to all sorts of reasons, the damage to the road has not been repaired. I urge the government to quickly take actions to repair this stretch of road so that it is safe for the many road users. Please give them a Christmas present by making good that road before 25th December this year.

Oil & Gas Industry in Miri
Shell has been in Miri, Sarawak since 1910. The company has played a significant role in the development of Miri during the last nearly 100 years. There are many infrastructures, public facilities and amenities that were completed by Shell during those years. Indeed apart from the government, the influence of Shell in the economic, social and cultural activities in Miri has been most important in shaping Miri as it is today. The success of Miri as a cosmopolitan city has also been largely due to this influence.

The last 40 years have seen many ups and downs of the oil & gas industry in Miri. Production of oil moved offshore as the land oil fields became uneconomical to produce in the 70’s. The offshore oil & gas productions started a new spate of economic activities that created another boom, and it started the economic growth of nearby town, Bintulu. Since then, the industry had suffered and enjoyed good and bad times caused mainly by the volatile oil prices which at one time dropped to below US$10 per barrel.

Shell, being an international oil giant, dictates its strategic operations policies from Europe, mainly from the Hague and London. Being a business concern, the policies are often dictated by profitably which in turn is determined by the prices of oil in the world market. The past three decades have seen three adverse oil price situations affecting the profitably of the oil giants. Like the rest of the world, Shell offices in Miri were therefore not spared whenever the company introduced reengineering policies, restructuring policies and reorganizing policies. Each strategic policy meant loss of jobs.

The dip in oil prices from the high of around US$147 a barrel to less than US$40 a barrel in 2008 had yet created another round of reorganizing activities. Shell in Miri has recently announced that it is reorganizing its operations worldwide. It means another round of jobs loss. Information available indicates that almost all Shell staff in Miri are required to reapply for jobs within the company, as part of the reorganizing exercise. Although there were indications that job losses for permanent staff are going to be minimal, there are great concerns by the local Shell staff that they may lose their jobs.
Miri is the Operations Headquarters of Shell Asia Pacific Region. For this reason, there are many expatriate staff in Miri. We welcome and encourage the continuous establishment of this arrangement as it brings along enormous economic activities to Miri City.

I urge the state government to set up a special committee to look into the oil & gas operations in Sarawak. The primary aims must be to look after the development of this industry for the benefit of the local economy and the creation of and protection of jobs for the local people.

As of now, many local Shell employees are concerned of their future in the company. Most of this people have given their whole live to Shell. They are naturally concerned that they may lose their jobs during the current reorganization exercise. While it is understandable that the policy of restructuring affects Shell employees worldwide, we must engage Shell to emphasize that local qualified people must be given priority in the positions available within Malaysia offices and operations. We must protect the interests of our own Sarawakians and Malaysians.

The state government should meet and talk to Shell to see what incentives we can offer to them to ensure that Shell’s main office and operations remain in Miri and Sarawak. The federal government gives all sorts of incentives to foreign investors to attract them to the Johore’s Iskandar Development. I see no reasons why the federal government and state government cannot give attractive incentives to attract Shell and other international companies to invest more into the Miri/ Bintulu area. We must do so immediately. It is time to market ourselves more aggressively in order to protect our economic activities and job market.

Other oil producing states like Terengganu and Sabah have influenced Petronas to give priorities to their local based companies in the award of tenders, etc. This serves to promote local businesses. I would urge the state government to do the same. We should request Petronas and other oil producing companies to give priority to local Sarawak based and owned companies for contracts of supply and services in Sarawak. For example, we can request that all contracts worth RM5 million and below must be awarded to Sarawak based and owned companies. We must exercise this influence now, for the protection and promotion of our local companies in Sarawak.

The Case of Marina Anak Undau @ Unau
Marina Anak Undau @ Unau’s unsuccessful application for university matriculation course despite getting 9As and 1B in her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examinations created headlines recently. Apparently it was due to the fact that she was considered not a bumiputra under Article 161A, Clause 6 of the Federal Constitution. I support the call of many Barisan Nasional leaders and YB of this august House for this clause to be amended to ensure that the natives of Sarawak can enjoy the same privileges as those in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah.

It is sad that a young Malaysian who had achieved such a good examination result was deprived of the chance to further her study in local university just because she was considered not a bumiputra. Malaysia has come along way since its formation in 1963. We now have so many local universities and colleges compared to those early years in the 1970s. We must therefore give all young Malaysians with good examination results an opportunity to pursue tertiary education, irrespective of race. After all it is important for the nation to develop and train young Malaysians who will eventually form the backbone of the country’s development and growth. The future of our country lies in the hands of good, loyal and intelligent young Malaysians. We must do it for the sake of the future of our nation. Otherwise we will find it difficult to compete with our neighbouring countries which are producing an excellent pool of well educated work force and offering all sorts of incentives to attract well educated and skilled people into their countries. We must make the change now to be more and remain competitive in this borderless world.

It is often heard that interview panels from government departments and agencies consist only of officers from the Federal offices or of one particular race. We hear that they sometimes do not understand our diverse ethnic races and culture. This often resulted in unfair statements made and unsuccessful results for the local applicants. We should ensure that interview panels for education placements, jobs, licenses, etc have some local Sarawak representations and multi-racial contents so that there is an understanding of the locals, & hopefully a better communication, and a better & fairer result for the applicants.

University and Human Resources Development in Sarawak
One of the key determining factors which will determine the success of SCORE is the availability of quality manpower that is well trained, skilful and knowledgeable. I am happy to note that the State has in the last one decade focus on the establishment of institutions of higher learning and skill development centre. Sarawak has five universities namely, UNIMAS, UITM, UPM, Swinburne and Curtin. There are also two polytechnics, and three skill development and training centre. Two of the universities are international universities from Australia. They have enable students who can not afford to go overseas to pursue a well recognized Australian university degree locally. This has not only helped these students but also helped the State by saving foreign exchange.

Curtin University Sarawak Campus is now 10 years old. It started in 1999 with a population of just over 200 students. It has 2553 students currently. Malaysian students constitute 2179 (85.35%) of the enrolment of which 1223 (56.13%) are from Sarawak. All Sarawakians who are enrolled into Curtin University Sarawak are eligible to apply for loans from Yayasan Sarawak to pay the course fees. They are required to commence repayment of the loans when they graduate and are gainfully employed.

International students from about 34 countries form about 14.65% of the university population and this is expected to grow progressively over the years.

Graduate employment rates are at a significantly high level and engineering and business graduates are well regarded by employer groups due to high standard of the courses in particularly the engineering courses.

The outcome of the quality and planning process has been the successful completion of the Australian Universities Quality Agency audit, several programme accreditations by Malaysian and international professional bodies and the invitation by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency to be one of eight universities in Malaysia to be audited for institutional self-accreditation purposes.

Amongst the many successes of Curtin students in Sarawak is the recent development of a single chip of a size 5cm x 3cm which is pasted on the chest and connected to a handphone using a cable to read heartbeat signals and ECG signal. The heartbeat reading can then be sent in the form of SMS to doctors in hospital. This is developed by a 3rd year Electronics Engineering student, Nurul Jameela, who made front page headline in the Borneo Post recently for her project.

Doctors who received the SMS can choose to pre-diagnose the user and reply back in SMS. The user will save time and cost with this system as pre-diagnose did earlier can determine whether the user needs to go to the hospital for further check up.

This system might seem nothing much for those who have easy and quick access to the hospital. But the benefit is enormous for those who are living in Sarawak remote areas.

Curtin University Sarawak also offers Master Degree in Project Management. I would encourage government officers and the private sector who are involved in project management to take up the course.

Indeed Curtin University Sarawak has come a long way. The University has brought affordable quality tertiary education to all Sarawakians, and at the same time help create quality human resources which are of paramount importance to the development of Sarawak as we move towards the ‘SCORE’ era. The BN government under YAB Chief Minister, and YB Deputy Chief Minister who is also the honourable member for Piasau must be congratulated for having the foresight to bring Curtin University to Miri.

Advertising Signboards
The Local Authorities (Advertisements) By-laws, 2005 was introduced into the state of Sarawak on 1st January 2006 to regulate the advertisements as well as generate some funds for the Councils.

The fee payable for Advertisement signboard of RM350 per year for every square metre or part thereof is considered high. Information available indicates that the fee payable for Kuala Lumpur ranges from RM16 to RM18 per square meter and for Johore, it is from RM7 to RM12 per square meter. For comparison purpose, a typical signboard of a company occupying 5 shop lots will have to pay around RM13,000 per year for its signboard. Any trademark or brand name which exceeds 50% of the total area of a signboard is treated as advertisement and therefore attracts the charges. It is common for a company signboard to include its brand name or the names of its major products for substantial part of its signboard.

The night scene of many progressive cities in the east Asia is generally made attractive by the neon lights of the advertising signboards. As we encourage tourism and business activities in our towns and cities, we should encourage tasteful and well designed advertisement signboards. These will add colours to our night scene and at the same time generate revenue for the local councils.

Roads and Bridges in Miri
The bottle neck at the Pujut 7 to Permyjaya Township is at the two lanes bridge across the Sungai Miri. The residents of some 20,000 homes & industrial buildings in Permyjaya & Senadin and the many heavy vehicles that travel to & from the Kuala Baram Port and the Kuala Baram industrial Estate cause traffic jam on both sides of the bridge every day. It is of great importance that another two lanes bridge be constructed to ease this congestion. There were talks of a by-pass from the Kuala Baram Port to the Miri Airport. It is very important for this by-pass to be constructed so that business vehicles going to the port and the Kuala Baram Industrial Estate will no longer use the congested Pujut Road and the Pujut 7 bridge, which will in turn ease traffic congestion in this area.

The Pujut Highway near to the Pujut Corner Flyover is where we see scores of people, young & old, running across the width of the wide road to cross to the other side whole day long. This poses a real danger for both the pedestrians and the motorists. There is an urgent need to build an overhead bridge for the benefit and safety of the pedestrians. In fact overhead bridges should also be built near to the Chung Hua Primary School, Pujut and the SMK Dato Permaisuri where school pupils and sometime, with their parents, run across the Pujut Highway every weekday. I plead with the government to plan and construct the overhead bridges as soon as possible.

Sport Facilities
I wish to express my gratitude and thanks to federal government and state government in granting multi purpose sport facilities in my constituency of Pujut. Indeed it was with the speedy assistance of the State government and the Land Office that the lands were quickly identified and approved for the construction of the courts. The sport facilities will help promote healthy social and recreational activities for the youths staying in my constituency. In fact , the feedback have been very encouraging for this type of project. We must continue to build more sport facilities for the people throughout Sarawak.

The Outdoor Stadium in Miri has plenty of space underneath the grandstand and concrete seats surrounding the stadium. We can make use of this space by constructing offices that can be allocated to each of the sport clubs in Miri to help them promote the game of sport, as many do not have office, store or meeting facilities. In fact the spaces are big enough to provide for some sport facilities like table-tennis.

Bicycle Lanes
Although this topic has been brought up in this august House last year, but unfortunately did not get a favourable response, I feel that the government should perhaps plan bicycle lanes for the future. A recent Bernama news article features the German Ambassador, Dr Gruber, who cycles to his office in Kuala Lumpur every day. He is advocating a ‘green’ city, and also a healthy one for its citizen. A recent charity cycling event in Miri attracted more than 200 cyclists. There was a loud ‘yes’ response to bicycle lanes when the question was asked during the charity cheques presentation. Although our weather here may not be as conducive to cycling like the western countries, it must be noted that only 40 years ago, the most popular mode of transport in towns was cycling. If we plan correctly, and plant trees to give shade to the bicycle lanes, cycling will regain popularity again, both for commuting as well as a recreational sport. We may see greener cities and towns in Sarawak in the future as a result. And we will definitely have a healthier new generation in the future.

Buildings with Heritage Values in Miri
There are not many buildings with long history in Miri. The government rest house [formerly the colonial Resident’s residence] on top of Tanjong Lobang Hill and the current Resident and District Office are some of the few unique buildings from the colonial days. I urge the government to gazette these two buildings as our heritage so that they can be preserved as historical buildings for the benefit of future generations to come.

Dato Sri Speaker,
Tun Mahathir phrased the development of Sarawak when he was here recently. The President of Bosnia Herzegovina had also given high phrases for the State. I am really perplexed why honourable members of the opposition can’t see it. Please give credits when credits are due.

I wish to congratulate Dato Sri Speaker in the way you conduct the preceedings in this sitting and thank all the staff here who have helped make the current sitting smooth running.

Before I conclude, Dato Sri Speaker, I wish all muslim Hari Aidil Adha, all Christians in this grand august House a very Merry Christmas and everyone in this building a very happy, healthy and successful 2010.

On that note, Dato Sri Speaker, I wish to express my support for the Supply (2010) Bill, 2009 and the Motion to refer the Resolution on the Estimates of Development Expenditure, 2010.

Enter Politic if you want to talk about Human Rights??

Every morning when I enter my office, first thing I did is to scroll through the Malaysian Papers via the internet. It s becomes my daily routine and it is the only method for me to update myself with what happening in Malaysia.

Today I was caught in surprised reading the statement by Sarawak Chief Minister as quote from New Strait Time (Appended below).

Be aware guys whenever you all talk about human rights otherwise you all will be challenged to enter politic arena. If you are not interested in politic then it is better to keep your mouth shut…hahaha

What a funny jokes – Just to express yours disappointment against the Government, you have to register with ROS and become a political party. Does this really need? If yes, pity the ROS staff as they will be busy with new political party registration…oppsss..probably it will be rejected before they even see the application form……!!!!

Well…at least you all get the signal guys…do not talk about the human rights and do not questioned government on the way the run the shows if you are not a YB!!!!!!!!! Although we are the one who put them there.

Taib: Suhakam should enter politics

KUCHING: Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) and local non-governmental organisations should register themselves as political parties if they were unhappy with the way Sarawak managed the Penan and the environment.

Speaking at the sixth anniversary of the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) here, Taib said: "Suhakam, which is supposed to fight for human rights, has talked much about the Penan and environmental issues, and even on the orang utan.

"Why can't they (Suhakam and NGOs) become political parties, instead of disguising themselves as NGOs?"

Taib's disappointment with Suhakam stemmed from its recently released report on the Penan community in Belaga affected by the construction of the Murum dam.

In the report, Suhakam expressed disappointment with the way the Penan were treated by the state authorities and contractors.

Suhakam urged the state authorities not to repeat the mistakes made when they relocated the people displaced by the Bakun and Batang Ai dams.


Suhakam also hit out at logging companies operating in the Baram interior and their treatment of the Penans.

Taib, who is also the First Minister of Resource Planning and Management, said NGOs were twisting facts on the way the state managed its forests to suit their agenda.

"Our sustainable forest management has been recognised by the International Tropical Timber Organisation as among the best in the developing world."

He said the findings of the NGOs did not reflect the situation on the ground.

Taib, who is also the chairman of SFC, said the logging companies had given a lot of assistance to the Penan in Baram and Belaga.

"This is something that they (NGOs) cannot deny."

He said local NGOs had given misleading statements and wrong facts to foreign NGOs and countries, including that forests in Sarawak inhabited by orang utans were cleared to make way for oil palm plantations.

He said not all the forests in Sarawak were inhabited by orang utan.

"They are found in certain areas, like the Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary, Batang Ai National Park and Meludam Wetland National Park."

New Permit Granted

Malaysia Catholic paper in 'Allah' row gets new permit – As published by hotmail news today.

A Malaysian Catholic newspaper will be allowed to continue publication after the government withdrew a controversial decision to cancel its publishing permit, the editor said Sunday.

A Malaysian Catholic newspaper will be allowed to continue publication after the government withdrew a controversial decision to cancel its publishing permit, the editor said Sunday.

The Herald said earlier this week the government had told it that its permit for next year had not been approved. Under Malaysian law, all publications must renew their permit every year.

The move came amid a long-running dispute over the weekly's use of the word "Allah" as a translation for "God" in its Malay-language section. The government argued "Allah" should be used only by Muslims, who dominate the country's population.

The Herald's editor, Father Lawrence Andrew, said government officials in a meeting Friday said the paper's permit would be approved, but rejected its request to publish a supplement in a language used by indigenous group on Borneo Island.

"They have asked us to ignore the September letter which says the permit is not approved and stick to an earlier letter in August stating a new license will be given, there is no more confusion," he told AFP.

"On our application to publish an additional page in the Kadazandusun language, we are sad it has been rejected. We will put the plan on hold and won't be using the language for the time being," he said.

A home ministry official confirmed The Herald was allowed to continue publishing, and attributed the controversy to "miscommunication". "We are processing their permit renewal. We never disapproved their application, (the September letter) was due to miscommunication but it has all been solved now," said the official, who requested anonymity. "We only rejected their application to publish in the Kadazandusun language," he added.

The Herald, circulated among the country's 850,000 Catholics, nearly lost its publishing license last year for using the word "Allah". The paper is printed in four languages, with a circulation of 14,000 copies a week.

The row is among a string of religious disputes that have erupted in recent years, straining relations between Muslim Malays and minority ethnic Chinese and Indians who fear the country is being "Islamised".

Religion and language are sensitive issues in multiracial Malaysia, which experienced deadly race riots in 1969.

Will it be END?

Again bumiputera issue become hot topic in Sarawak. The rejection of Marina Undau enrolment into Matriculation despite his father is an Iban has sparked the issue amongst Sarawakian. She scored 9A’s and 1B’s in last SPM. In fact this was not the first issue involving bumiputera status, similar cases has been occurred in the past. This happen due to the State Constitution was not in line with Federal Constitution on the definitions with regards to Bumiputera status - resulting in confusion to the officer in charge.

Datuk Douglas Uggah (Minister of Natural Resources and Environment) on Friday @ 13th Nov told, cabinet have made administrative ruling that Marina Undau and companies are now officially recognised as Bumiputera. He said “If the father is a bumiputera. The offspring (children) is Bumiputera”. He also want the change to take effect immediately and told that the directive have been issued to all ministry for them to comply with this administrative ruling. He said, as the amendment of the constitution may take time, they have to agree to the administrative ruling and will review the constitution on a later date.

With this administrative ruling, Marina now should be accepted for her matriculation. Nevertheless, I still think that government have to review and amend the Federal Constitution at the soonest in order to put a big END to such issues in future.

KEDAP

Saya tabik kepada Kementerian Pelajaran dalam usahanya untuk memperluaskan / memperbanyakkan Kelas Dewasa Pribumi (KEDAP) diseluruh Negara. Menurut Timbalan Menteri Pelaran Dr Mohd Puad setakat ini 108 buah kelas KEDAP telah dibuka diseluruh Negara dengan bilangan pelajar hampir 2000 orang.

Usaha untuk membuka lebih banyak lagi KEDAP dikawasan luar bandar diharap dapat membantu lebih ramai lagi golongan ini yang telah terlalu lama ketinggalan. Usaha ini diharapkan sekurang kurangnya dapat melahirkan masyarakat Orang Asli yang celik huruf.

DiSarawak misalnya KEDAP telah pun dibuka diperkampungan masyarakat Penan Long Lamei. Setakat ini pembukaan kelas tersebut sudah pun menampakkan hasilnya. Sekurang-kurangnya para peserta telah mampu menguasai asas pembacaan dan pengiraan. Mereka juga kelihatannya gembira serta berminat dengan kelas tersebut apatah lagi para peserta diberi elaun oleh pihak kerajaan.

Meskipun ianya mungkin sudah terlambat untuk golongan ini menimba ilmu namun penyertaan mereka dianggap mampu memberi galakkan kepada anak anak mereka untuk terus belajar. Dengan menguasai asas asas membaca dan mengira mereka juga nanti diharapkan dapat memberi tunjuk ajar kepada anak anak mereka yang masih lagi belajar.

Kebolehan bertutur dalam Bahasa Malaysia juga akan membantu mereka untuk berinteraksi dengan dunia luar. Keadaan ini akan mempermudahkan mereka berurusan dengan pihak pihak tertentu lebih lebih lagi dengan jabatan jabatan kerajaan. Selain itu mereka juga diharapkan dapat bersaing dengan masyarakat lain dalam mencari pekerjaan dibandar Bandar bagi mengubah keadaan hidup mereka.

Sekali lagi tahniah kepada Kementerian Pelajaran. Semoga usaha ini akan diteruskan dan diperluaskan dimasa akan datang. Mungkin usaha untuk perkenalkan system ini kepada masyarakat peribumi yang lain dapat dipertimbangkan terutamanya dikawasan pedalaman Sarawak dan Sabah.

Longhouse bust-up over logging compensation

Extract from The Star Online - Nation
Friday November 13, 2009
By STEPHEN THEN

MIRI: A 66-year-old farmer from a remote longhouse in Ulu Baram has lodged a police report against the chief of his longhouse for allegedly assaulting him during a quarrel over logging activities in the jungles surrounding their settlement.
Ipoi Jau from Long Terawan, a settlement some eight hours by timber road from here, claimed that his longhouse chief had punched him on the face when he asked how much “commission” he received from a timber company for allowing the harvesting of timber on their land on Sunday.

Ipoi and two of his nephews, Willie Kajan and Marcus Lasat, sought legal advice on the matter on Wednesday.Ipoi said he had to seek medical treatment for a cut he sustained on the face during the incident.“The penghulu punched me in front of a crowd during a funeral after I asked him what he had done with the money collected from the timber company.“He assaulted me when I asked him why he had not been distributing the money to the rest of the longhouse residents,’’ Ipoi said in an interview at the lawyer’s office.

Kajan said his uncle and many in the community were angry that although the timber firm had been harvesting logs on their land, they had not received any money.
He claimed that since the penghulu took over the post of community chief in Tutoh-Apoh five years ago, the longhouse residents had not been getting any compensation for logging activities on their land.

“We have received information that the timber company paid up to RM100,000 to a longhouse per year as ‘commission.’ “This money is supposed to be shared among all the families living in the longhouse, and is not just for the penghulu,’’ he said.
Miri police chief Asst Comm Jamaluddin Ibrahim said the police would investigate Ipoi’s report and to date, nobody has been arrested over the case.

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This incident shows the head man is totally not qualified for his post. It not just bad for himself but its tarnished the image of the community which known as a loving community. What a shame for head man to behave in such a way? As a head man that appointed by Government he should able to control his anger and he should tackle whatever issues with professional manner. It is so sad to see such incident happen in this well known caring and loving community.

Government have to be more serious in appointing community head man in future. Also it is will be fair if Government can do a thoroughly investigation on the victim accused to find out the truth in order to avoid such incident repeated in future.

Ladies please read this!!!

Malaysia is so crime infested, very few places are safe nowadays !!!
I get this sent to me by one of my friend. I don't believed that this just happen in KL but it happen everywhere.

Please take a few minutes to read this and please inform anyone you know and care about..especially ladies…

On Saturday, 4th July 2009 at 6:45pm my sister boarded a taxi at the Wangsa Maju LRT to return home.

At the end of the road, the taxi driver stopped to pick up another male passenger who seemed to be going off the same direction..

Well, my sister didn't suspect anything funny as they looked genuine, and he was going her direction and she was in a hurry..

Little did she suspect that she was in for a huge trauma!

But when she asked the taxi driver to turn into the junction where she lives, the driver pretended to miss it and the male passenger said that since they were already nearer to his place, why not send him off first and the driver politely asked my sister if that's ok and she thought she was doing a good deed!

As soon as they got to the end of the housing area next to the big walls of the Academy TV3, the male passenger, locked all the doors and leapt to the back and held a knife at her throat and forced her to bend her head down - she had to give up her jewelry, and the $200 cash she had.

Not satisfied with only that much, they threatened for more so they drove off to Maybank Jln Setapak and took out everything she had that was around 7:30pm ....

The driver returned the card after clearing the account! Then they drove off to the back area of Tasik Titiwangsa and dropped her off there. Left her with only $10 and ask her to take another taxi home!

My sister had to walk a long way back to the main road to get help and she is really traumatised by all these.

Later at the police station we found out that she was victim #3 that same day! Let's remind everyone we know, as it could easily happen to us too or to anyone we care about.

The lesson to be learnt here:
1 Always check the plate # BEFORE you board a taxi.
2 Always check the other things that a taxi should have - the driver's ID, the inside number etc, etc.
3 NEVER allow the driver to pick up another passenger - No matter what! If they do, get off and just pay the man.
4 Avoid taking the taxi alone, if you can.
5 Be extra careful if it is after office hours.


Off course not all the taxi drivers did the same but it is better for us to be more caution as it is happening.

PIALA MALAYSIA

Sebelumnya TAHNIAH kepada pasukan Negeri Sembilan yang telah pun berjaya merangkul PIALA MALAYSIA kali ini. Pun begitu tahniah juga kepada pasukan Kelantan walaupun tewas kerana bukan mudah untuk melangkahkan sehingga ke peringkat Final
Bercakap tentang Piala Malapysia saya terkenang zaman kegemilangan sukan bola sepak di Malaysia. Malaysia dizaman kegemilangannya pernah menjadi pasukan yang digeruni dirantau ini tetapi kini semuanya hanya menjadi kenangan atau terlipat dalam lipatan sejarah.

Namun pada final Piala Malaysia kali ini suasana tersebut seolah olah kembali. Dengan ribuan penyokong kedua dua pasukan yang hadir telah berjaya mengembalikan suasana kemeriahan Piala Malaysia. Kehadiran mereka juga telah berjaya menyuntik semangat yang tinggi kepada pasukan masing masing. Kita dapat lihat para pemain bermain dengan penuh semangat dan bersungguh sungguh mengikut rentak irama penyokong masing masing. Dengan sokongan yang padu daripada penyokong para pemain telah berjaya mempamerkan satu mutu persembahan bola sepak yang boleh kita banggakan.
Seharusnya menonton permainan bola sepak boleh dijadikan satu kegiatan riadah untuk seisi keluarga. Kita dapat lihat ramai penyokong yang hadir membawa kanak kanak mereka bersama. Ini bukan saja dapat mengeratkan hubungan sesame keluarga malah juga dapat menerapkan minat kanak kanak tersebut kepada sukan bola sepak. Namun apa yang mengecewakan adalah sikap segelintir penyokong yang bertindak keterlaluan. Ini telah memberikan satu gambaran yang tidak baik kepada kanak kanak yang sama sama hadir di stadium. Keadaan ini juga mungkin akan mengakibatkan ibubapa yang merancang untuk membawa keluarga menonton permainan bola sepak membatalkan niat mereka. Ini secara tidak langsung akan merugikan sukan bola sepak itu sendiri.

Kehadiran penyokong yang ramai amat diperlukan oleh sukan bola sepak masa kini. Ianya bukan hanya untuk member semangat kepada pemain malah ianya merupa nadi kehidupan kepada sukan itu sendiri. Kutipan yang banyak atas kehadiran penyokong yang ramai mampu mengubah prestasi sesebuah pasukan kerana mereka mempunyai dana yang cukup untuk berbuat demikian. Begitu juga sebaliknya..kehadiran penyokong yang ramai harus dibayar oleh para pemain dengan mempersembahkan mutu permainan yang menarik dan bermutu tinggi.

Apa pun sebagai seorang peminat bolasepak saya amat berharap kehadiran penyokong yang ramai ke stadium bukan hanya pada peringkat final sahaja. Sokongan penyokong seharusnya bersama para pemain mereka dari awal lagi hinggalah keperingkat akhir.

Shocking!!!

This message has been circulated around via email and I got this from one of my friend. If this really happen then it is unbelievable as we all given our trust to KWSP as Government agency to take care of our hard earning money and we do trusted them.


Remember during Budget 2008 announcement last yr, our Finance Minister cum PM announced that in order to assist KWSP members to reduce the burden in housing load repayment, KWSP will allow monthly withdrawal from members' A/C II for the purpose?
Sounds like a nice goodies!

When you apply for the monthly withdrawal, you only need to provide KWSP yr housing loan & installment details from yr bank and the bank a/c # you like KWSP to bank the monthly withdrawal into it. KWSP will approve yr application based on the available amt in yr A/C II and compute the withdrawal period by dividing the approved amt with the monthly installment amt.
Application process takes about a month and you will receive the monthly payout promptly into yr bank a/c!

Well everything appear to be nice and good. It was indeed a noble plan until you take to close look at yr KWSP Statement!

This is how the so-called KWSP SCAM works.......

Assuming you have RM100,000 in yr A/C II and yr housing loan's monthly installment is RM2000/mth.
KWSP will approve yr application of withdrawal from yr A/C II of RM100,000 and pay you Rm2000/mth for the next 50mths.

Everything appears to be in order BUT.......
What KWSP didn't highlight to you is that when the application was approved, the TOTAL AMT (RM100,000) is removed from A/C II! It appears to be transferred to an unknown a/c to effect the monthly payment from therein.

The impact to the member are as follows :-
1. You just lost RM100,000 from yr A/C II. Assuming the KWSP Dividend is 5%, you will lose RM4,000 in dividend during the 1st year. Based on the above example you will lose RM10,000 over the 50 mths period!

2. There is no statement to account for the amt approved vs. amt paid, hence you would need to keep the monthly payment voucher to reconcile against the approved amt over the 50mths period to ensure there is no missing amt!

Assuming there are 100,000 members who innocently fell prey to this SCAM, based on the above example, KWSP would have cheated the members of 100,000 X RM10,000 = RM1,000,000,000 (that's RM1 BILLION) over the period!


Furthermore, if you discovered this SCAM early and intend to stop the plan, KWSP would not allow any cancellation of the plan until at least 1 year. That would mean, once the application is approved, based on the above example, you would have lost RM4,000.

100,000 members would have lost 100,000 X RM4,000 = RM400,000,000(RM400 MILLION) in One Year!!!

If you're a victim of this KWSP SCAM, would suggest you call yr MP to raise it up in Parliament!

For others who have not fallen into this SCAM, pls continue to watch out and alert yr family & friends about this.

Urmeric extract can kill cancer cells - Info

Chicago:
An extract found in the bright yellow curry spice turmeric can kill off cancer cells, scientists have found. Researchers at the Cork Cancer Research Centre in Ireland treated oesophageal cancer cells with curcumin – a chemical found in the spice which gives curry its distinctive yellow colour – and found it started to kill cancer cells with 24 hours.

The cells also began to digest themselves, they said in a study published in the British Journal of Cancer. Previous scientific studies have suggested curcumin can suppress tumours, and that people who eat lots of curry may be less prone to the disease, although curcumin loses its anti-cancer attributes quickly when ingested.

NOTE TO GOD.

What’s a beautiful n meaningful lyric?


If I wrote a note to God
I would speak what's in my soul
I'd ask for all the hate to be swept away
For love to overflow

If I wrote a note to God
I'd pour my heart out on each page
I'd ask for war to end
and for peace to mend this world

I'd say
I'd say
I'd say

Give us the strength to make it through
Help us find love, cause love is overdue
And it seems like so much is going wrong
On this road we're on

If I wrote a note to God
I'd say please help us find a way
End all the bitterness, put some tenderness
in our hearts

I'd say
I'd say
I'd say

Give us the strength to make it through
Help us find love, cause love is overdue
And it looks like we haven't got a clue
Need some help from you

Grant us the faith to carry on
Give us hope when it seems all hope is gone
Cause it seems like so much is going wrong
On this road we're on

No
No

We can't do it on our own

So
So

(Give us the strength to make it through
Help us find love, cause love is overdue)
And it looks like we haven't got a clue
Need some help

Grant us the faith to carry on
Give us hope when it seems all hope is gone
Cause it seems like so much is going wrong
On this road we're on

No
No
No) We can't do it on our own

(So)
So

If I wrote a note to God