Memorandum - STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH by CASH

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Memorandum - STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH


VERY URGENT please    29th January, 2008

DYMM YDP Agong                        

Istana Negara, Kuala Lumpur.

Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi,
Prime Minister of Malaysia, Putrajaya, Malaysia
Dato' Seri Mohd Najib.
Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Putrajaya, Malaysia.
Dear DYMM Tuanku & YAB Dato' Seri,
Greetings from Sabah
Memorandum - STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH
It is a desirable development that CASH would submit this memorandum as the third one in the last two years for your prompt attention.
The nation has reached annual trade volume of a billion Ringgit and more for the past two years with Sabah contributing a substantial part of the trade for a few decades already.
It is an open book that we have observed the great gaps and disparities in the nation vis-a-vis Sabah in all areas of livelihood.
With that kind of undesirable scenarios, we are heading to unknown scourge of the nation becoming a reality in Sabah which may be a great disappointment in great and strong Malaysia without true love for Sabah.
Tun Dr. Mahathir had just spoken that nations have disappeared for bad leadership. Dato' Sri Najib said that independent nation must be able to do what抯 best for its people. Our Prime Prime has his regular chanting of Gemilang, Cermelang and Terbilang (Glory, Excellence and Distinction). So in STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH we need the best of everything in political will, leadership, and justice in Sabah via the establishment of Royal Commissions of Inquiry.
The love story of 1963 with the deal sealed in Malaysia Agreement was a good episode to be lived out for the nation or the unexpected of the normal development could go any way but unity, integration, harmony and trust betrayed on the land for all patriotic people.
Meanwhile we appreciate the latest imagination of the Sabah Development Corridor would be implemented in the fairest application at a time when the crude oil has hit the highest in history.
There are so many issues to be addressed for Sabah and please don't allow the dividing South China Sea be a part of the problem but a solution to bring the natural goodness back to Sabah for the local people. As a step in the right direction of that we need to reflect on the political will to relive the common desires of 1963 as a young nation with great expectation.
An undesirable BOOMERANG effect is inevitable. What you do to others will return to you in 100 fold. If the returning boomerang does not hit you, it will hit your family and generations to come. Meanwhile we have lots of unusual adverse developments as food for thought on this retribution.
Not to be distracted by the latest hype of Sabah Development Corridor as in previous expectations, there is an expectation of RM10 billions needed for infrastructure in Sabah while the degraded scenario in Sabah is in need of at least RM40 billions to upgrade Sabah nearer to be on par with the rest of the nation. We need a new system to do that to bless all.
We trust this is in order for the good intention.

Yours faithfully,


President(Datuk Patrick Sindu)    Deputy President(Joshua Kong)  Secretary General(Hashima bte Hasbullah)

p/s :Memorandum to Prime Minister titled "Strong Malaysia loves Sabah" - 5 pages is attached


3rd Memorandum from Consumers' Association of Sabah & Labuan (CASH)
-STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH
STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH January 2008
Preambles.
This is the third MEMORANDUM to the Prime Minister since January 2007 as the first one - MEMORANDUM in support of corrective measures to tide over price hikes in Sabah January 2007 and the second one - Memorandum to Prime Minister for serious actions in Sabah December 2007.
1. Introduction
1.1 Consumers Association of Sabah & Labuan FT (CASH) would very much like to see a STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH in prompt addressing of the gaps and disparities in all areas of the nation vis-a-vis Sabah. Such gaps and disparities had been there since 1963 and these were some of the reasons to be addressed with the formation of Malaysia apart from the British foreign policy in line with the expectations of the United Nations after the second world war. Most towns of North Borneo were destroyed during the World War 2 and the British had seventeen years 1946-1963 trying to rebuild the colony. Since then efforts to address the gaps and disparities had seen lots of shortcomings so much that Sabah is still lying at the bottom amongst the Malaysian States for some years now despite so much natural resources at the disposal of the new Government in Malaysia.
1.2 We are now in the mid term of Ninth Malaysia Plan and yet the glaring discrepancies in so many areas are still obvious so much so that UNDP confirms that poverty in Sabah is still worst in the nation. We know all the reasons for such undesirable development and the sincere political will to bring Sabah in line with the national standing is obviously lacking.

2. HOPES for STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH
2.1 However for STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH, we need to address all the strengths and weaknesses of the State so that the known challenges can be overcome with the resources we still have albeit depleted for the rainforests and the dwindling fossil oil.
2.2 Meanwhile, the strengths we have must be made stronger and productive to bring in the much needed wealth to develop the people and the land in holistic approaches and applications and they are as follows:-
2.2.1 LAND & WORLD HERITAGE SITES
In STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH we have plenty of usable land and several world heritage sites but maintenance is always a challenge while the proper usage of the agricultural lands for sustainable crops must be emphasized to enable long term productivity. We have seen the depleted rainforest as a natural environment of a green scenario now replaced by the alien oil palms can pose unknown consequences in a sort of artificial habitat due to global warming. Many rivers are exposed to the hazards of the by products of oil palms and the downstream activities. Would our world heritage sites be sustained in their pristine condition to keep the tourists happy when global warming and its impacts are unpredictable? When STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH is practised, we would expect more visitors - Malaysians and foreigners - to make increasing financial contributions to help develop Sabah.

(part 2 to come)

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2.2.2 AGRICULTURE & FOODS SECURITY

In STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH we would expect our agricultural produces be supported by the national policies when Sabah is quite safe from various animal husbandry diseases so that our produces are of international standards using the best practices and technologies available. When STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH must concentrate in its effort to inculcate the best quality in its food items namely sea foods, meats of all kinds and large range of fruits and vegetables, we must do away with the illegal harmful practices as our sources of foods for export and domestic consumption are regularly poisoned in a range of profit orientated approaches. STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH must take special care that there is food safety and food security in Sabah so that we can be dependent on our own efforts rather than import essential food items especially rice.

2.2.3 CITY & MAJOR TOWNS DEVELOPMENTS

In STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH, we must have balanced developments in the urban and rural areas to maintain a beautiful country with many prosperous cities and towns to service the hinterland for mutual benefits. Unfortunately, there is a scary development of a culture of 'lopsidedness' where neglect of towns prevails. In Sabah the major east coast towns are not developing as what we may see in Kota Kinabalu City. The damages arising from this culture are not only identified with land development in major town, but also in other unfavourable lopsided deals. The immediate gaps are observed for example in Sandakan once a busy town is almost 'dead' with known reasons but not addressed accordingly. Most urban areas in Sabah encounter drastic unhealthy demographic changes due to the presence of foreigners not properly addressed by the authorities.

2.2.4 BASIC ITEMS ARE MISSING ITEMS

In STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH we need to enjoy the comfort and the assurances of all the basic items of the nation as Malaysian leaders claim we are doing very well comparatively with many nations of the former British colonies. Such leaders may be promoting the Peninsula Malaysia especially some advanced States there to the world while Sabah go further backward. This cannot be tolerated any longer after 44 years when STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH must allow Sabah to be on par with the rest of the nation as a nation cannot be strong when Sabah is about a third of the nation in term of size and the second biggest state in Malaysia. In STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH, when Sabah is left behind, where is the LOVE as in 1963?

2.2.5 PRICE HIKES MEAN MORE POVERTY

In STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH, we need to have the same prices in most items especially in basic essential ones so that we can boast about that like many nations do that. Not only that we have higher price differentials in controlled items in Sabah as compared within nation, the rates of increases in the last two years using the justification of fuel subsidy adjustments had been worst of course exacerbated by the costs pushed items imported from Peninsula Malaysia. Consumers in Sabah are really left helpless as we are paying for the spiral composite costs of all the underlying price hikes in Peninsula Malaysia over in Sabah. Incredible it may sound, in STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH where Chapati - a foreign dish loved by Malaysians - had been with us for decades is being priced out in Labuan the birth place of Joshua Kong by price hikes in 2008. So we may lose the LOVE for a favoured dish in Sabah too for local and tourists alike. Unless we deal with the price hikes by the horn, we would be asking for more aggravated poverty related problems in Sabah still rich in fossil oil and palm oil. Where is the LOVE for Sabah in STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH?

2.2.6 FINANCES ALLOCATIONS ON PAPER STILL INADEQUATE

In STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH we need all the necessary funding to do justice for Sabah since 1963 for all the basic infrastructure, otherwise we cannot have a STRONG MALAYSIA. In the final analysis of the inadequate budgetary allocations since 1963, lopsided deals and poor delivery systems have brought about disadvantages aplenty precipitating the gaps and disparities - dreams of 1963 unresolved - to be now nightmares in Sabah. Money may heal the brokenhearted people for many but not for long in corrupted lands.

3. PROPOSALS FOR URGENT ACTIONS

3.1 CASH had submitted a wide range of issues and challenges in Sabah in the two earlier memorandums and we do not need to repeat them in STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH.

CASH have attended a great numbers of public functions and dialogues over all the pressing issues in Sabah for more than two decades, and we can now draw a good conclusion to resolve our problems getting bigger by the day.

Swelling social ills are bound to escalate in an environment where the foreigners and illegal people of Project IC or Project Mahathir have numbered more than the local genuine Sabahans/ Malaysians as they come from alien cultures.

In STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH this kind of environment should not be tolerated for too long as security and sovereignty is endangered and actions from the appropriate levels of authorities are evasive for known reasons.

Sadly in STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH the political will to resolve this critical crisis leading to a paralysis is not forthcoming and the impasse is attributable to the Federal and State Governments in a combination of inaction.

Beyond this impasse we have observed that in STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH scenario, there is a lack of political will to put the ugliness of Sabah mainly due to what we can attribute it to "Tsunami of Illegals & Illegalities" or TII where our past and present State leaders are outsiders (non genuine Sabahans and Malaysians) and foreigners (including PTI) since 1963. When these socalled leaders have ruined Sabah over the decades, some quarters would curse the Sabahans as the bad guys.

In this context of legitimate State Governments of such leaders and the foreigners dictating terms for Sabah, we must do justice for Sabah by exposing all those past and present leaders as to their originality by the presentation of birth certificates to clear the doubts. Isn't it an irony that you have a beautiful home in 1963 and then other people just come in to ruin it in socalled democracy and independence and point their fingers back to the house owners? So in STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH, we must make a stand now that the legitimate State Government must be in the hands of the legitimate patriotic Sabahans as God has meant that to be.

3,2 Another pressing aspect is that in STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH, the unexpected scenario of foreign slaves prevail in Sabah as in conflict with the Article 4 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. The foreign workers - legal or otherwise - have been exploited in all ways with the status of slaves and if allowed to be in Malaysia especially in Sabah (an imported burden of Philippines and Indonesia), the nation could be taken to task for Crimes against humanity. Why should STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH allow this contagion to be perpetuated in Sabah as it can impact the people of Sabah when Sabahans in the hundreds of thousands have to go elsewhere for survival as people from Peninsula Malaysia also bring their own kind to do their assignments - short and medium term - in Sabah depriving local people of opportunities. Should this practice be allowed to go on, it is not a surprise that the 'cursed' people of Sabah be in a land of self created slavery - unbeknown in past history in the Land Below the Wind.

3.3 Joshua Kong and CASH had lodged 21 Police Reports including a reminder for the period 2004-2007 worth a few Trillions Ringgit and since no further actions were observed it is essential that all those issues on land matters, citizenship under Project IC, wealth and resources depleted, corruption, abuses of power, electoral frauds, gangsterism and crimes be addressed under several Royal Commissions of Inquiry now. The list is attached per appendix A with notes.

3.4 The delivery system to uplift the development in the hinterland of Sabah go beyond the distribution of money and subsidies as the effectiveness of that must be monitored with the regular and consistent coordination of the guidelines with the target groups.

4. CONCLUSION

In STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH, we go back to the love story of Malaysia Agreement where Sabahans have the same destiny of Malaysia with free elections but regularly rigged when held as General Elections 2004 were known for frauds nationwide. So after 44 years, our dreams held on for too long for whatever reasons must be addressed to make LOVE Sabah a revived reality.



3rd Memorandum from Consumers' Association of Sabah & Labuan (CASH)

-STRONG MALAYSIA LOVES SABAH


Prepared for CASH by Joshua Y. C. Kong 13th January 2008

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That Daily Express has a write up based on this memo...


4th Feb 2008