As they say lies repeated many times can become the truths.
More so with the simpletons and those with less power of reasoning.
The oppositions are toiling hard to capture the hearts and minds of the simple kampong folks with charge of corruptions in the establishment, which is fine because those are facts that we can't denied, but they have also embarked on a more dangerous journey, fanning the religious flame in mainly Christians Sarawak that the Federal government is anti Christians and extolling rising Christians antipathy on the Malay Bible controversy.
The oppositions is in desperate mode and is resorting to Goebbels type propaganda.
One of Geobbles propaganda principles is that "a propaganda theme must be repeated often, but not beyond some point of diminishing effectiveness and propaganda to the home front must create an optimum anxiety level and it must reinforce anxiety concerning the consequences of defeat"
The oppositions had warned the people in Sarawak that should they be defeated Sarawakians would lose more NCR lands and would live worse than pigs if they continue to support the BN as this article written by one Stephanie Sta Maria portrayed the hovels of the Iban's people are worse than pig sties.This is journalism at its worse.Unrefined and dangerous. It is a disturbing hate propaganda with dangerous racial and religious overtones.
Geobbels helped Hitler into power by exploiting mob emotions that eventually led to the Holocaust. The same dirty tactic employed by Pakatan in Sarawak raising the level of anxiety among the local population already inflamed by the constant barrage of propaganda of the controversial NCR land grab bullshit and the Malay Bible issue.
Though, I don't agree with the government on the Bible issue, the opposition politicising the issue is dangerous.The issue should be left to the church and relevant government authority to work out without allowing politicians to add fuel to the fire. I am for the ISA. I would rather throw 10 troublemakers in jail than allow the whole nation to go up in flame.
I am not a fan of the Western brand of democracy.They have no business to tell us how to run our country.The political landscape, people, culture are different from theirs.Democracy is not cut and dried, it can be modified to suit the imperatives.
“The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over" another Geobbels propaganda technique.
Obviously, Sarawakians lack the power of judgement so much so they have to depend on a bored housewife and a self-proclaimed protagonist of Free Sarawak living 7000 miles across the globe to tell them they have lost everything in their own country, a nutter who prefers to see the natives in loincloths and living on tree-tops and view them as tourism products of the 21st Century.
What is her stake in Sarawak that makes her so concern about things she has absolutely no clue about other than listening to a few disgruntled natives.Did she visit Sarawak frequently to get first hand knowledge of the actual situation, or is she another Bruno Manser wannabe with a remote control in her hand?
What is her stake in Sarawak that makes her so concern about things she has absolutely no clue about other than listening to a few disgruntled natives.Did she visit Sarawak frequently to get first hand knowledge of the actual situation, or is she another Bruno Manser wannabe with a remote control in her hand?
That's exactly what that venomous serpent called Clare Brown wanted of the Dayaks, Ibans and the Penans of Sarawak to be, kept in the jungle as tourist attractions, claim all of Sarawak as NCR lands so no development can come to Sarawak to displace them from the jungle and people like Clare Brown and her ilk could come to Sarawak and view the Ibans, Dayaks and Penans as exotica of the forests.
The whole of Sarawak should be NCR lands if Clare Brown had her ways.There should not be any logging and timber processing industries, there should not be any lands given out for oil palm, agricultural and other industrial purposes, there should not be any land given to other Sarawakians other than the hunter-gatherers tribes and there should not be any economic development on the land whatsoever.The people of Sarawak can live and hunt on their ancestral lands and survive on the kindness of the jungle.
The same with the Indians of the deep Amazonian jungles, the Papuans and the Bushman of the Kalahari, the Westerners much preferred these tribes to continue living in the stone age so they can come and see them and go home and tell their friends of the existence of such lost tribes and ancient cultures and more and more of them would come to see these strange creatures of the jungles and deserts.
Unfortunately, some Malaysian, including some very educated ones, think these are the people who care for them and are taken in by the wilful propaganda of mostly vested interests.
Why did I say the majority of NCR land claims are bullshit.
In Sabah, I know there have been many dubious claims of NCR lands. I am speaking from my experience as an ex logger, a businessman and a concerned citizen. The NCR lands controversy were created by greedy politicians.
During Berjaya's rule in Sabah former Chief Minister Harris Salleh had a kind of land reform for the landless.He gave 15 acres each on a communal application of several thousand villagers at one time.At that time I was doing logging in the Sugut/Paitan area and I saw an approval for 2000 acres approved for 15 acres each individual and given to the kampong people in the vicinity where I operated.Many such land approval were given out under the Berjaya government to help the rural folks own lands.Many have been sold for quick gain.
Harris, during his time also set up many projects for the benefits of the rural folks.There were Safoda, Kojasa, Ko-Nelayan and many other agencies to provide employment and economic help to the rural people.All these agencies eventually fell to the ground when the government changed hands.
When people are lazy there is nothing much you can do.Just travel around the state and see how much of kampong land lay wasted, uncultivated and overtaken by weeds and these are the very same people who complained they have no land.When they applied for land even before the titles are issued they have already sold the L.A and collected a small deposit from the purchaser, who are mostly Chinese with native certificates.
Where are those so called NCR lands that Harris gave to them natives? Do they still belong to the kampong people? Unfortunately, no! They are now oil palm plantations owned by West Malaysian companies.Can you blame Harris for this or blame the lazy natives?
These are native titles that bore no premium, which means the government did not collect any revenue. The land is in perpetuity, other than the very minimal annual payment of land cess, there is no other payment collected by the government. Lost of revenue to the state is enormous.
These type of lands are not meant for wide scale agricultural development by individual or companies, they are meant for individual native ownership only.
The government only give away land to corporations on lease basis and on payment of land premium.Leases are normally for 99 years.In Sabah, the government has stopped giving away 999 lease, which is considered freehold land.
Native Titles(NT) which is considered freehold is now much preferred by small plantation companies which can legally lease it for maximum of 30 years.They don't have to pay premium which can run to million of ringgits if the land were given directly to them depending on the size of the area. The other loophole is to sell NT lands to non-natives using native proxies.
Most disputes and protest are not really the villagers themselves, it is usually the "yang berhormat" from the area who wanted the land for himself so he could sell it for quick gain.He uses the kampong people to rattle the state government.
This happened all over Sabah and worst under PBS when huge tracts of land were given to politicians and their cronies which eventually end up as oil palm plantations mostly owned by West Malaysian companies.Today the same politicians who have had their hands in this web of deceit are pretending to champion the NCR lands disputes.
I can't speak for Sarawak, but my guess, it's probably in the same sorry state.
In a recent case in Sabah, sadly, the High Court awarded customary rights to a group of NCR claimants who, strangely enough, came to court fully dressed in their traditional garbs probably to impress the judge that they are natives and hunter-gatherers.
If you are Sabahans you know very well no natives of Sabah use their native costumes as an every day attire.They rarely do and only use it on special occasions during celebration of Harvest Festivals,tamu besar, tourism attractions or if there were religious rituals.
On the East Coast of Sabah those claiming customary rights seemed more at home in Sulawesi rather than the jungles of Borneo.
I am not saying that the judge decision is wrong but it certainly will have a bearing on future land matters.The precedence may open a can of worms and make it difficult for the state government to develop the state when land came under dispute.Any land given out for development could be challenged as NCR lands and would stifle economic development in the state.
It must also be a fact that, if the state so decide, NCR lands are not alienable to individual native even if he has live on the land for many generations.He can continue to live and till the land without registered title of ownership which is what customary right is all about.
It must also be a fact that, if the state so decide, NCR lands are not alienable to individual native even if he has live on the land for many generations.He can continue to live and till the land without registered title of ownership which is what customary right is all about.
