I was told that this was an annual subsidy given by the government to all kampong people in the Serian District, but, why these poor kampong people had to suffer because of this? I wrote a letter to the Serian Agriculture Officer, who later on phoned and gave me assurance that the subsidies will be released soon. I shall monitor this matter, but, the damage had already been done, because, this time they will go all out to help the Opposition win the next election. They told me that they had suffered far too long and felt cheated in the hands of the BN and no BN people had bothered to reseal the road that led to their kampong for the past many years.
BN government and the people in authority may need to be cautious in any discrimination implementation of policies and exercise of power. These subsidies may not be much, but, it meant a lot to the poor people in the kampong. If they are not happy, this may escalate into serious security problem. Now, rice is very expensive and coupled with the recent increase in petrol and diesel, people in the kampong hardly earn enough to eat and by depriving these subsidies, I am afraid that this could bring many serious security problem in Serian District. There will be an increase in crime and people may go to the streets to show their anger when subsidies are not forthcoming! I hope the Serian Agriculture Officer will see this problem be solved soon before it would be too late with kampong people assembling with banners and making noises infront of his office.
Such discrimination should be stopped and the BN government should not forget what had happened to Tambunan in Sabah many years ago when the Sabah BN government withdrew all development projects in Tambunan just before the election. It caused the downfall of the state government.
The Lunas by-election some years ago should also be fresh in our mind. It was said that many roads in the Lunas constituency had been neglected by the BN government, but, when a stiff challenge was made by PKR and the Opposition, PKR won the by-election because one of the issues was the neglect by the BN government of the infrastructures in the constituency.
Likewise in Batu Lintang, when just before an election in 2004, the authorities when trying to please the voters of Batu Lintang resealed the roads of the housing estate where my house was, but, the resealing of the said road stopped just infront of my house. They skipped the resealing of the road, but, chose to continue, the resealing of the end part of the road only, thus, leaving the unsealed part of the road an uneven gap. Maybe, the BN people just wanted to teach me a lesson because I was an Opposition man. I just kept quiet and did not complain, but, the motorists grumbled! This was because not only was this discriminatory, but, they disliked the bumpy road and potholes on the road which the authorities had refused to repair and reseal. I guess their grumble was later on turned into votes for me in Batu Lintang and this was how Batu Lintang fell to the DAP in May 2006 state election! My votes in that area and in Sg. Maong increased tremendously.
BN government can go on to discriminate people, but, people are no more stupid!
4 comments:
YB Voon,
I don't agree totally with you on this issue and I hope you don't manipulate those poor Bidayuh farmers for your own political gain. Fertilize subsidies do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Serian District Office. If your are in doubt, the best thing for you to do is to check with the District Office or with the District Officer, him self. The District Officer is very down to earth and very approachable type. All we know and all the rakyat know padi fertilizer subsidies are under the jurisdiction of the local agriculture office and instead of pointing your finger at YB Datuk Michael Manyin, you should find out from your self before you pen it down in your blog. I have known Manyin far too long than your good self YB. YB Datuk Michael Manying was our Principal when I was just a naughty school boy in Kolej Abdillah. As a headmaster, he makes sure we learn and study hard. He would advise parents to give proper education to their young children. How knows what the needy people of the villages need. I am sure Datuk Michael Manyin as a Bidayuh leader would not want his rakyat to suffer and he would want the Agriculture Department to give out subsidies to all the village people because that is where his constituents/voters are. As far as he is concern, he will not discriminate against the rakyat.
You said that this is an annual subsidy, why don't you check from the agriculture whether the subsidy is given annually. If I am not mistaken, rice subsidy is only given once. My late mother was given only once a life time. The agriculture department wants the recipients to know how to fish instead of giving them fish to eat. No government would like to give subsidies forever as there are other priorities.
If they support the opposition that is good for you and if the opposition win, you can be made a minister replacing any of the incumbent.
Good luck. I hope you post my message in your blog because my previous postings were deliberately deleted. Cheers.
I welcome your comment and it was a good comment to clear the air and in which I feel that you are as concerned as me about the plight of the people, irrespective of race. We are malaysians and need to see that the system of social justice be truly implemented without any discrimnation or imbalance of implementation. You may wish to notice that what I put in my blog was about information given to me in a "letter form" that is, in writing and I published what was contained in the information which said that the subsidy was withdrawn by the Serian District Officer upon the instruction of Datuk Michael Manyin. Whether what these kampung people said was true or not, I don't know and that was the reason that I did qualify myself by saying,"If this was correct,then this was a political discrimination against
the rakyat." Please note, I was not the accuser, but, I was a messenger to tell those in power, that if such a thing did happen, please take corrective action so that people would not suffer and so that the government's credibility would not suffer like what had happened in Tambunan, Lunas and also in Batu Lintang. Whether the subsidy was once in a life time susidy or not is not a very important issue, but, the fact that when subsidies were to be given, then, this should be given. Policies could change at anytime, and if the government feels that more subsidies should be given and of which the government could afford the strains and the people's hardship could be temporarily relieved from the subsidies, then, why not? The Agriculture Officer was very understanding and attempts had been made to resolve the matter and this is the bottom line to the answer.
I also understand being a student who was taught by Datuk Michael Manyin, and definitely by being in that relationship, it is quite a natural thing to do and of which you also should do, that is, to come to the side of your teacher when he is in trouble or when things need to be clarified about his action, you need help clarify it. You may need to understand, I did not in that article accused your teacher of any wrong, but, I have to repeat that, I am just a messenger and whether it was right or wrong about that information, it serves as a good information which should be received objectively and with good faith so that if a wrong was committed,it was in the hope that this could be corrected. I sent the same letter from these poople of Kampung Koran Empaneg to him for his information, so that he can know what was happening in his constituency.
What you also said is also true, that is, I may not known Datuk Michael Manyin as much as you do, but, one thing I can tell you that he was my friend, and I like his style, that is, he did his job like a government servant (as admitted by Datuk himself in Dewan). I see him as always obedient to orders of his superiors and he took orders well. Like all other ministers, his prime duty was towards his superiors so that his superiors will be able to run business smoothly through him. In all, Datuk Michael Manyin, is a good servant!
Friend, I may not know the Bidayuh people well, but, one thing I know is that, all poor people are close to my heart and I dare to say that most Dayaks are still poor and too many of them are still living below poverty line. I don't look down on them, but, I was always with them and I was born like them. When poor what can we do? People who are poor are close to my heart, because, I was raised in that enviroment and I know the meaning of poverty. When people are poor, what could they use to fish? They have no rods, no strings, no nets. The government can teach them to fish, but, without these tools, how can they fish? Forever, they will never be fishermen but,poor farmers.
To see better future for all, I suggest we should chang our system from capitalist style of government to social democracy, where wealth could be distributed fairly to all strata of society. By this system, people must be given the rods, strings and nets, so that when we teach them to catch fish, they can then know how to catch the fish. Now, the present system will see the rich becomes richer. This system could be seen in the way things were implemented in the BN government. Projects and lands to be opened up for development were given to big companies like CMS and many other companies with the hope that these companies will prosper and that workers will benefit from these companies. These companies must not collapse, and the government needs to see them survive. When in trouble, government may come to their rescue by activating "political mechanisms" to ensure their survival. If they collapse, the workers will then become jobless. This will make the rich richer, and workers be forever be workers and forever these workers must be complacent and be satisfied with what they got and had to obedient to their employers to ensure job security for themselves. In the end, farmers, will be always farmers, etc.
You agree?
I don't quite agree with you YB. If the rich don't invest back what they earned the economy will be at stand still. Look at Tan Sri Ting, Tan Sri Tiong, some rich Foochows of Sibu. Yes they are mighty rich, but at the same time they employ thousand of people to work for them. They employ engineers, business administration graduates, they employ accountants, the employ quantity surveyors, and the employ school leavers, lumber jacks, and also they employ labourers to work for them. Some of those engineers they employed prosper driving nice cars. Don't you know Tan Sri Ting pays his skill workers about RM80.00 per day. That is why he gets things done fast.
I agree with you that many of the Dayaks are still poor. Well what is DAP strategy to help the poor Dayaks? If you say that the NEP has failed to uplift the standard of living of the Dayak what is the best policy that DAP can think of and perhaps YB can suggest in the next DUN sitting. If in the urban areas the government through the local authorities give cash assistance to those registered. But what is there for the rural Dayaks. The urbanites can get their cash rebated. But is there any rebate for rural dwellers who use fuel to generate electricity, for their out boat engines and etc. If you can, I suggest you support Tan Sri Datuk Pattigi Alfred Jabu call for the federal government to extend the rebate to the rural dwellers. On top of that I suggest DAP make a survey of the poor Dayaks and forward to the relevant authority. If the BN government can't help, solicit the help of the DAP government in Penang. They are generous too. Because according to YAB Lim, he wants zero poverty in Penang.
Cheers YB.
I don't quite agree with you YB. If the rich don't invest back what they earned the economy will be at stand still. Look at Tan Sri Ting, Tan Sri Tiong, some rich Foochows of Sibu. Yes they are mighty rich, but at the same time they employ thousand of people to work for them. They employ engineers, business administration graduates, they employ accountants, the employ quantity surveyors, and the employ school leavers, lumber jacks, and also they employ labourers to work for them. Some of those engineers they employed prosper driving nice cars. Don't you know Tan Sri Ting pays his skill workers about RM80.00 per day. That is why he gets things done fast.
I agree with you that many of the Dayaks are still poor. Well what is DAP strategy to help the poor Dayaks? If you say that the NEP has failed to uplift the standard of living of the Dayak what is the best policy that DAP can think of and perhaps YB can suggest in the next DUN sitting. If in the urban areas the government through the local authorities give cash assistance to those registered. But what is there for the rural Dayaks. The urbanites can get their cash rebated. But is there any rebate for rural dwellers who use fuel to generate electricity, for their out boat engines and etc. If you can, I suggest you support Tan Sri Datuk Pattigi Alfred Jabu call for the federal government to extend the rebate to the rural dwellers. On top of that I suggest DAP make a survey of the poor Dayaks and forward to the relevant authority. If the BN government can't help, solicit the help of the DAP government in Penang. They are generous too. Because according to YAB Lim, he wants zero poverty in Penang.
Cheers YB.
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