Hantu Laut
I am not an expert in Sarawak land matters and what I expressed here are mostly confined to my Sabah experience. However, Sabah and Sarawak seemed to share similar problem when it comes to Native Customary Rights(NCR) land.
Land have always been a sensitive issue in rural areas when big tract of land are given out for agricultural development or logging activities.There would be protests, objections and confrontations with the indigenous people who claim that those land belong to their ancestors and rightfully belong to them.
Unlike in some parts of Sarawak, in Sabah the native villagers do not totally live off the forests. Most live along rivers and tributaries and eke out their daily lives from subsistence farming by shifting cultivation. Here, they are appropriately called Orang Sungei and are scattered along the rivers in pockets of small villages.
In Sarawak the Penans are probably the true people of the forest.Most are hunter-gatherers and used the forest as their source of food, medicine and clothing.Although, they take everything from the forest they pose no strain on the forest because of their minimalist attitude, not taking more than enough.
As a logger working in the Sugut/Paitan area in Sabah in the 70s and 80s I have a fair share of problematic villagers who claimed customary rights mostly as an excuse to squeeze money out of you to pay for wild fruit trees they claimed to have been planted by their forefathers and non-existence graves of their forefathers they claimed to have been mowed down by our tractors.Dealing with this kind of situation needs a lot of diplomacy, patience and understanding.To brush aside their claims would be inviting more troubles.We always get away with paying a few hundred ringgit making them happy and our work uninterrupted.
The best solution to the problem is to wise up and not be arrogant. Most of these poor villagers are reasonable and do not come as often.Paying few thousands ringgit a year to keep the peace is worth it. Those were 20 to 30 years ago when land and forests were still aplenty.Today, things have changed and land are becoming scarce and expensive and politics playing a big role in turning it into a sensitive and troubling issue.
The kampong folks are not as innocent as many would have thought them to be.Many have been given lands but sold it for quick money even before the titles for the land have been issued by the government.Under the Berjaya government thousand of acres of land were given to so-called landless villagers and all those lands are now owned by big plantation companies.Every where you go the story is the same, even land applied for homestead are sold immediately upon getting approval.
All the hue and cry about NCR land falling into the wrong hands are mostly politically motivated, at least in Sabah it is.Most issues are raised by politicians with vested interest.When they can't get what they wanted from the government instigating the people would put pressure on the government to consider their requests.This tactics are use by both oppositions and elected representatives of ruling parties.
In Sabah, the giving away of huge tract of land to Peninsula-based plantation companies were mostly done under the PBS government and this is the same people who are trying to stir up villagers about NCR lands that they have given away more than any other state government.PKR Vice-President Jefferey Kitingan was a big player in this scheme when his brother was Chief Minister of Sabah and he Director of Sabah Foundation.
Some politicians have short memory. They conveniently forgot what they did yesterday.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
New Mahathirism: A Pre-judgement ?
Hantu Laut
It's the end of the Badawi's era and the beginning of a new Mahathir's era.
Malaysians are watching closely the road that Najib will be taking to redeem himself.How he is going to extricate himself from a whole slew of allegations which he claims to be unfounded and manufactured by the oppositions.They are malicious and baseless lies spread by the oppositions to smear his good name he claimed.
There is a general perception that Najib will be turning back the clock to the Mahathir's era, the use of strong arm tactics to intimidate the oppositions, muffle the media and crack down on the alternative media where the smear campaigns and oppositions to him ruling the nation resounding loudly.
Najib is asking Malaysians to judge him by his actions and said he has not taken office yet but people were already pre-judging him.
Malaysians are basically skeptical because of his non-reaction to the allegations other than denying it. Malaysians wanted him to clear his name by using the justice system which he seems not to be in favour of thus making the people even more suspicious.Tengku Razaleigh has asked him to exhaust the legal system to clear his name.Razaleigh has, in the past, used the legal system to clear his name when news report implicated him in the BMF scandal.
Mahathir has strongly indicated his return to UMNO and the entire nation is glued to a political watch of whether Mahathir will have undue influence in his administration. In another word would Najib be under his thumb? Will he takes Mahathir as the wise old man and a fatherly figure that he should render his respect and obedience ? Mahathir has openly thrown his support for Muhyiddin who had been instrumental in pressuring Pak Lah to step down. Would Mahathir make full use of Muhyiddin to pressure Najib to compliance ?
Malaysians will get an early indication of whether Mahatirism has snuggle back into the administration when Najib chooses his cabinet ministers.The one person that Mahathir wanted no business with is the young and restless Khairy Jamaluddin. He has openly attacked Khairy and wanted him out of the Youth race and later openly told Najib not to appoint him to the cabinet.By tradition the youth chief is usually given a cabinet post.
Will Najib appoint Khairy to the cabinet and faces the wrath of Mahathir or appease him and not appoint Khairy and faces the wrath of the party youth division ?
It's the end of the Badawi's era and the beginning of a new Mahathir's era.
Malaysians are watching closely the road that Najib will be taking to redeem himself.How he is going to extricate himself from a whole slew of allegations which he claims to be unfounded and manufactured by the oppositions.They are malicious and baseless lies spread by the oppositions to smear his good name he claimed.
There is a general perception that Najib will be turning back the clock to the Mahathir's era, the use of strong arm tactics to intimidate the oppositions, muffle the media and crack down on the alternative media where the smear campaigns and oppositions to him ruling the nation resounding loudly.
Najib is asking Malaysians to judge him by his actions and said he has not taken office yet but people were already pre-judging him.
Malaysians are basically skeptical because of his non-reaction to the allegations other than denying it. Malaysians wanted him to clear his name by using the justice system which he seems not to be in favour of thus making the people even more suspicious.Tengku Razaleigh has asked him to exhaust the legal system to clear his name.Razaleigh has, in the past, used the legal system to clear his name when news report implicated him in the BMF scandal.
Mahathir has strongly indicated his return to UMNO and the entire nation is glued to a political watch of whether Mahathir will have undue influence in his administration. In another word would Najib be under his thumb? Will he takes Mahathir as the wise old man and a fatherly figure that he should render his respect and obedience ? Mahathir has openly thrown his support for Muhyiddin who had been instrumental in pressuring Pak Lah to step down. Would Mahathir make full use of Muhyiddin to pressure Najib to compliance ?
Malaysians will get an early indication of whether Mahatirism has snuggle back into the administration when Najib chooses his cabinet ministers.The one person that Mahathir wanted no business with is the young and restless Khairy Jamaluddin. He has openly attacked Khairy and wanted him out of the Youth race and later openly told Najib not to appoint him to the cabinet.By tradition the youth chief is usually given a cabinet post.
Will Najib appoint Khairy to the cabinet and faces the wrath of Mahathir or appease him and not appoint Khairy and faces the wrath of the party youth division ?
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Cabotage Within A Cabotage: Sabah Ports' Moronic Idea
Hantu Laut
Most developed nations have cabotage law to protect transport of goods and passengers within the country.
'Cabotage' basically means the transport of goods or passengers between two points in the same country.It is a form of protectionism.It was originally started in shipping but later widen to cover aviation and to all other form of inland transport.The US has strict cabotage policy and consider it as not only protection for domestic transportation but as a form of national security and public safety.
Malaysia has its own cabotage policy to protect local shipping. Most goods from overseas are first shipped to Port Klang and later shipped on local carriers to other ports in the country. If domestic shipping is efficient and readily available than this is fine, the costs of transportation could be lowered but it could pose huge problems if the local shipping is erratic and inefficient, costs would go up making goods more expensive and less competitive.
Consumers in Sabah and Sarawak have to pay higher price for consumers goods due to the policy and even worse, manufacturers in the two states who export their products overseas have to incur higher costs in paying additional freight/transhipment charges for transhipment of the goods through Port Klang which is not a very efficient port by any measure.
There should be flexibility in this policy as far as Sabah and Sarawak are concerned.Strict adherence to cabotage would make Sabah and Sarawak unattractive to investors. There should be total relaxation on bulk shipments. That is to allow direct calls by both foreign and Malaysian registered vessels for bulk cargo going out or coming to the ports in Sabah and Sarawak. The two states are separated from the Peninsula by over a thousand miles of open sea and a malleable cabotage policy should be the case.
Take for instance if there was a big shipment of heavy equipment from Kobe in Japan to Kota Kinabalu it makes economic sense if the sailing is direct to Kota Kinabalu instead of going to Port Klang first because the freight charges would be much cheaper than to send it to Port Klang and than re-ship to Kota Kinabalu.
As they say "from the frying pan into the fire". It bothered me to read the most ridiculous proposal by Sabah Ports to make Kota Kinabalu Sepangar Port as the only terminal port for all ships coming to Sabah including all ships from Port Klang.Goods destined for other ports in Sabah shall be transported by barges and scows from the Sepangar Port.
I wonder whether the people in Sabah Ports are fit to be there in the first place. Void of better ideas on how to make money this bunch of morons have decided to start their own cabotage policy.They are trying to create a cabotage within a cabotage and bring more miseries to the economy and the people of Sabah.
The business community and the people of Sabah are already burdened by the high costs of goods by the inefficiency of domestic shipping protected under the national cabotage policy and they are trying to add salt to the wound and aggravate the already unpleasant situation. Needless to say this kind of vacuous policy would drive away both domestic and foreign investors.No businessman in his right mind will invest in a state where poor infrastructure, high costs of production and high cost of shipping existed.
It is also ridiculous on the part of Sabah Ports to implement such ridiculous policy after spending huge amount of money to upgrade the Sandakan port and those in Lahad Datu and Tawau.
This kind of policy makes no economic sense to Sabah other than to serve the incompetence of the 'goyang kaki'( laziness) management of Sabah Ports. The proposal virtually makes one 'smell a rat' in Sabah Ports and its parent company Suria Capital. The next step is to monopolise the transport sector by giving it to one or few people.
Malaysia as a nation already have in existence a national cabotage policy which covers the whole nation. Sabah should not be allowed to implement its own cabotage policy just to fulfil the whim and fancies of the management of Sabah Ports. The state government should not agree to this meretricious proposal even though Sabah Ports belong to the state.It's would be killing the elephant to save the ant.
I would be surprised if Chief Minister Musa Aman who himself was a businessman will allow this kind of policy to be implemented and one that will damage the state economy and stifle new investments.
Maybe, he should also consider appraising the management of Sabah Ports whether they are competent to run port business without government protection.
Most developed nations have cabotage law to protect transport of goods and passengers within the country.
'Cabotage' basically means the transport of goods or passengers between two points in the same country.It is a form of protectionism.It was originally started in shipping but later widen to cover aviation and to all other form of inland transport.The US has strict cabotage policy and consider it as not only protection for domestic transportation but as a form of national security and public safety.
Malaysia has its own cabotage policy to protect local shipping. Most goods from overseas are first shipped to Port Klang and later shipped on local carriers to other ports in the country. If domestic shipping is efficient and readily available than this is fine, the costs of transportation could be lowered but it could pose huge problems if the local shipping is erratic and inefficient, costs would go up making goods more expensive and less competitive.
Consumers in Sabah and Sarawak have to pay higher price for consumers goods due to the policy and even worse, manufacturers in the two states who export their products overseas have to incur higher costs in paying additional freight/transhipment charges for transhipment of the goods through Port Klang which is not a very efficient port by any measure.
There should be flexibility in this policy as far as Sabah and Sarawak are concerned.Strict adherence to cabotage would make Sabah and Sarawak unattractive to investors. There should be total relaxation on bulk shipments. That is to allow direct calls by both foreign and Malaysian registered vessels for bulk cargo going out or coming to the ports in Sabah and Sarawak. The two states are separated from the Peninsula by over a thousand miles of open sea and a malleable cabotage policy should be the case.
Take for instance if there was a big shipment of heavy equipment from Kobe in Japan to Kota Kinabalu it makes economic sense if the sailing is direct to Kota Kinabalu instead of going to Port Klang first because the freight charges would be much cheaper than to send it to Port Klang and than re-ship to Kota Kinabalu.
As they say "from the frying pan into the fire". It bothered me to read the most ridiculous proposal by Sabah Ports to make Kota Kinabalu Sepangar Port as the only terminal port for all ships coming to Sabah including all ships from Port Klang.Goods destined for other ports in Sabah shall be transported by barges and scows from the Sepangar Port.
I wonder whether the people in Sabah Ports are fit to be there in the first place. Void of better ideas on how to make money this bunch of morons have decided to start their own cabotage policy.They are trying to create a cabotage within a cabotage and bring more miseries to the economy and the people of Sabah.
The business community and the people of Sabah are already burdened by the high costs of goods by the inefficiency of domestic shipping protected under the national cabotage policy and they are trying to add salt to the wound and aggravate the already unpleasant situation. Needless to say this kind of vacuous policy would drive away both domestic and foreign investors.No businessman in his right mind will invest in a state where poor infrastructure, high costs of production and high cost of shipping existed.
It is also ridiculous on the part of Sabah Ports to implement such ridiculous policy after spending huge amount of money to upgrade the Sandakan port and those in Lahad Datu and Tawau.
This kind of policy makes no economic sense to Sabah other than to serve the incompetence of the 'goyang kaki'( laziness) management of Sabah Ports. The proposal virtually makes one 'smell a rat' in Sabah Ports and its parent company Suria Capital. The next step is to monopolise the transport sector by giving it to one or few people.
Malaysia as a nation already have in existence a national cabotage policy which covers the whole nation. Sabah should not be allowed to implement its own cabotage policy just to fulfil the whim and fancies of the management of Sabah Ports. The state government should not agree to this meretricious proposal even though Sabah Ports belong to the state.It's would be killing the elephant to save the ant.
I would be surprised if Chief Minister Musa Aman who himself was a businessman will allow this kind of policy to be implemented and one that will damage the state economy and stifle new investments.
Maybe, he should also consider appraising the management of Sabah Ports whether they are competent to run port business without government protection.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Autocracy Or Atonement ?
Hantu Laut
So! Najib got his dream team after all, if not all, at least most of it.With the exception of the Youth and Wanita wings nearly all his men are in place at the top echelon of the party.
The casualties among ministers and menteri besar would see some changes in the cabinet line-up.At least there would be a new Home Minister, new Foreign Minister and new Minister of Tourism. Another vacancy that may be in the offing is the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumers Affairs presently under Shahrir Abdul Samad.He lost his bid for a seat on the Supreme Council.
Najib has plenty of room to make major changes to the cabinet and those ministers who failed to secure victory have made life easier for Najib to overhaul the cabinet and infuse new blood into the lacklustre cabinet.
From the new crop of leaders, many are uninspiring, unimpressive and known quantities. Maybe, Najib should start looking for professional ministers and engage them on contract basis especially for crucial ministries like the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Trade and Industry.These two ministries are the crucial conveyors in spurring economic growth to overcome the economic and financial crisis.
Sabah got a big shot in the arm when Shafie Apdal won one of the vice-presidents and Chief Minister Musa Aman got one of the highest number of votes in the Supreme Council.The head of Puteri was also won by Sabahan Rosnah Abdul Rashid Sharlin. Sabah also secured 2 more seats in the Supreme Council, Lajim Ukin and the controversial bocor MP Bung Moktar Radin.
Well, you can't put a good guy down and Malaysia must have court jesters not only in Parliament but also in every political party supreme councils, otherwise, Malaysian politics would be such a pallid and boring affairs.
It must be the saddest day for Ali Rustam.Looking at the votes obtained by 'Double-Barrelled Muhammad' he could have put up a good fight against Muhyiddin.
It will not be easy ride for Najib with Muhyiddin as No.2 because if he can't perform satisfactorily instability in the party will not leave him in peace and Muhyiddin is not a man who is going to sit around and let the party slide further down into the abyss, likewise, don't expect Mahathir to be sitting quietly in the corner.
All eyes are on Najib now, how he chooses his cabinet, how he tackles the economic crisis and most crucial of all how he deals with the oppositions. Many in UMNO believe a return to autocracy would fortify UMNO. This simplistic and outmoded political philosophy if simply put...... is a political suicide.
A return to Mahathirism is not the answer, atonement would be more likely what Malaysians are looking forward to.
So! Najib got his dream team after all, if not all, at least most of it.With the exception of the Youth and Wanita wings nearly all his men are in place at the top echelon of the party.
The casualties among ministers and menteri besar would see some changes in the cabinet line-up.At least there would be a new Home Minister, new Foreign Minister and new Minister of Tourism. Another vacancy that may be in the offing is the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumers Affairs presently under Shahrir Abdul Samad.He lost his bid for a seat on the Supreme Council.
Najib has plenty of room to make major changes to the cabinet and those ministers who failed to secure victory have made life easier for Najib to overhaul the cabinet and infuse new blood into the lacklustre cabinet.
From the new crop of leaders, many are uninspiring, unimpressive and known quantities. Maybe, Najib should start looking for professional ministers and engage them on contract basis especially for crucial ministries like the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Trade and Industry.These two ministries are the crucial conveyors in spurring economic growth to overcome the economic and financial crisis.
Sabah got a big shot in the arm when Shafie Apdal won one of the vice-presidents and Chief Minister Musa Aman got one of the highest number of votes in the Supreme Council.The head of Puteri was also won by Sabahan Rosnah Abdul Rashid Sharlin. Sabah also secured 2 more seats in the Supreme Council, Lajim Ukin and the controversial bocor MP Bung Moktar Radin.
Well, you can't put a good guy down and Malaysia must have court jesters not only in Parliament but also in every political party supreme councils, otherwise, Malaysian politics would be such a pallid and boring affairs.
It must be the saddest day for Ali Rustam.Looking at the votes obtained by 'Double-Barrelled Muhammad' he could have put up a good fight against Muhyiddin.
It will not be easy ride for Najib with Muhyiddin as No.2 because if he can't perform satisfactorily instability in the party will not leave him in peace and Muhyiddin is not a man who is going to sit around and let the party slide further down into the abyss, likewise, don't expect Mahathir to be sitting quietly in the corner.
All eyes are on Najib now, how he chooses his cabinet, how he tackles the economic crisis and most crucial of all how he deals with the oppositions. Many in UMNO believe a return to autocracy would fortify UMNO. This simplistic and outmoded political philosophy if simply put...... is a political suicide.
A return to Mahathirism is not the answer, atonement would be more likely what Malaysians are looking forward to.
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