Motion of Appreciation to T.Y.T. Yang di-Pertua Negeri’s Address

Posted on May 7th, 2008 by Administrator, under State Assembly.

By YB Andy Chia Chu Fatt, ADUN N.64 Pujut
7th May 2008

Dato Sri Speaker,
Thank you for giving me this honour to move the motion of appreciation to Tuan Yang Terutama Yang di-Pertua Negeri for his gracious address in this august House on 5th May 2008.

Dato Sri Speaker,
The address showed to this august House the fatherly caring nature and wisdom of Tuan Yang Terutama. We are thankful for his guidance. The address covered most of the important matters of the day like Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE), New Economic Policy, security, unity, price increase of goods, padi farming, poverty eradication, 45th Anniversary of Sarawak in Malaysia and the 12th Parliamentary Election. These matters are either close to the hearts of the people or are highly significance in dictating the direction of the future economic growth and wellbeing of Sarawak. They are topics which we should really pay full attention to as elected representatives of the people.

I wish Tuan Yang Terutama continuous good health so that he can continue to travel all over Sarawak to meet his subjects and be a shining example to all for his friendliness and caring attitude. And may he continue to enjoy golf for many years to come.

Dato Sri Speaker,
May I congratulate the state’s Barisan Nasional and YAB Chief Minister for the victory of 30 out of 31 seats during the recently concluded parliamentary election? It shows that majority of the Sarawak people overwhelmingly support the Barisan Nasional government. I am sure that the government will continue to work hard for the benefits of all Sarawakians.

Dato Sri Speaker,
Food Crisis and Agricultural Land
We have recently seen daily news headlines throughout the world indicating the increasing high cost of food and the issues relating to the provision of adequate food to the world. International agriculture researchers warned that farmers will need to double food production by 2030 to meet rising demand. Robert Zeigler, head of the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute, said that “for the first time, it has been clear that we are consuming more rice than we are producing globally”. Joachim Von Braun, director of US-based International Food Policy Research Institute, said that high food prices could force many to limit food consumption, leading to drastic malnutrition particularly among children. Demand of food is driven by both population and economic growth we are seeing in this world currently.

Malaysia has apparently not been hit by food shortage although we have a difficult task to keep prices under control for the benefit of our low to medium income groups.

Although we are an agricultural based country, we are still importing substantial food products. Our food import cost has also escalated. Rice supply has become an issue recently. It is estimated that Malaysia imports about 30% of its rice. Our country rice stockpile can only last us for two weeks. We are therefore vulnerable to having adequate rice supply and paying high priced imported rice. Although top-quality Thai rice now costs US$1,000 a tonne, the price of basic white rice is sold at a controlled price of around US$555 a tonne [around RM 1700 per tonne]. The world supply may not be able to catch up with the fast increasing demands by the affluent China and India population. There is therefore an urgent need to plan for the future food production sources of our country. We should not take current food availability for granted. The future will probably see escalating demand for food and rising food prices which will have serious implications on Malaysia’s economy and food supply.

It was therefore timely that YAB Prime Minister had recently called on Sarawak to be the new rice bowl of Malaysia to help reduce dependency on food import. Sarawak is seen to have plenty of land suitable for rice farming. It is very encouraging to read that our YAB Chief Minister had responded positively to this call in his speech at Mukah recently by saying that the state government would fully support the Prime Minister’s proposal. As rice farming is not considered as profitable as other crops like oil palm, attractive incentives have to be provided to appeal to investors and farmers. The federal government should consider grants, soft loans, tax incentives and technical assistance for those who wish to venture into padi growing. I am delighted to note the recent announcement by YAB Chief Minister that the federal government had allocated RM50 million for padi planting in Sarawak as a start. On our part to push on with the momentum so created, I hope that the state government will identify lands available for padi estates for application by interested citizens. I hope due consideration will be made for both large and small scale farmers. This is an opportunity to nurture small & medium farmers who will help propel the economic drive in the rural & sub-urban districts of Sarawak. It is generally considered that small & medium size companies are the ones that will have strong direct impact on the local economy. Owners of such companies will normally spend locally and source their supplies locally, thereby triggering off a chain effect of economic activities locally. This will have a multiple effect that will surely benefit more people along the supply and consumer chain.
I am delighted and encouraged to hear from YB Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Modernisation of Agriculture during question time this morning that Sarawak would plan to ensure that we will be 100 % self sufficient in rice production and the many important plans to enable the state to achieve this goal. I fully support the Deputy Minister’s statement this morning that we should plan for a more diversified agricultural industry instead of relying on one major crop in oil palm in Sarawak.

The other essential food item which we have often taken for granted is vegetables. There are many farmers who are renting land to farm vegetables in Miri. They would very much like to have their own land for long term vegetables farming. I know some of these farmers. They are genuine and deserve help from the government. The state has successfully implemented the policy to establish professionally managed large scale plantations which are now contributing positively to our state’s economy. Perhaps the time is now right to look into the development of small and medium size farmers and planters as the next engine of growth in the agriculture sector of our state’s economy. I believe there is a genuine need to allocate some lands for the small genuine farmers, and of course for oil palm estates for small holders too. I am sure smallholders and farmers are important to our economic activities and food needs. I hope the government will consider positively this request from the farmers and small size planters. Granting their wishes will create a new group of businessmen and entrepreneurs who will not only provide our future food needs but also help propel our economic growth.

Voluntary Welfare Groups
Sarawak has enjoyed tremendous growth over the last 20 years. Our people are enjoying a lifestyle undreamed of 20 years ago. While the majority is living a wonderfully normal life, we have some who are less fortunate. These groups are the handicapped, disabled, special children, mental handicap citizens, autistic children and of course the sick. In Miri, there are 3 groups of less fortunate people which I feel our government and the community can do a lot more for. They are the ‘special’ children, the autistic children and the mentally unsound citizens. We are fortunate that there are voluntary organizations that are set up to help these three groups of people and their family. However, they face many constraints such as lack of expertise, lack of facilities, insufficient funding and insufficient government support. Existing organizations in Miri like the PDK Centre [Pusat Pemulihan Dalam Komuniti Miri], the Autistic Centre and the Mental Health Association attract a lot of volunteers from the community. All three groups require land to build their own purpose built building to better serve the needs of these children and adults. The PDK, Mental Health Association and the Miri Branch of The National Autism Society of Malaysia have applied for land to enable them to build centre for the children. I appeal to the government to allocate land for each of them as soon as possible.

The Autistic Centre is the latest voluntary outfit in Miri. It is run by a group of local volunteers who have autistic children. They finance the operations themselves. They are in need of more funds to enable them to run a proper centre so that their children can have special education and guidance. Otherwise, the autistic children will have no chance when they grow up. With specialized training and education, the children can be trained to have skills and knowledge that they would otherwise be deprived of if they were to go to normal schools alone. The parents of the autistic children are also concerned that when the parents get older, there would be no one to help look after their then grownup children. They wish to have a piece of land so that they can set up a bigger centre to take care of the special education & training of the autistic children, and also a place where the autistic grown ups can stay and be taken care of when they become adults. I was informed that there are many more autistic children in Miri. But their parents are either unaware of their children’s autism or they have no knowledge on how to deal with autistic children. Such children would often be bullied in schools and the teachers would not know how to handle them. We must have an ongoing program to create awareness and properly coordinated activities to help this group of people so that their children will have a chance to live a normal life in schools and in the society in the future.

I was also informed that some parents could not afford the RM200 per month fee charged by the Autistic Centre in Miri. The fees charged by the centre were to cover the operational expenses. Perhaps it is time that the government looks into this matter by providing annual financial assistance, providing expertise and guidance so that the autistic children have a future and do not eventually become a burden to the community and the government. One sad fact is that there are no qualified speech therapists in Sarawak. Autistic children have to fly to Kuala Lumpur to see speech therapists. This is very costly to the families which can afford this. For the poor, it is a sad affair. As we progress, let us also look after the less fortunate amongst us. It is time for us to look into helping those who are less fortunate due to no faults of theirs. Let us be really serious about this for the long term benefits of our people. I hope Sarawak will eventually be a model state that takes good care of those who are born with some abnormal abilities.

Fuel Subsidies
The oil price had reached US$120 per barrel recently. The current pump prices of oil were pegged at the time when the oil price was around US$60 per barrel just over a year ago. The government is subsidizing a substantial amount to keep oil prices low for the benefit of the Malaysian people. Take for example, the diesel costs RM1.59 per litre at the petrol station, but the industrial price is around RM3.20 per litre. The government subsidy is about RM1.60 per litre. That is a lot of money! The new Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumers Affairs has said that the ministry will look into a better and effective way of subsidy for fuel. This will hopefully be done soon so as to benefit the correct target groups of the country. There have been speculations of illegal sale and smuggling of petrol in the press. At the current level of difference of about RM1.60 per litre [approximately 100 %] between pump price and market price, it is obvious that there will be some people who may buy oil illegally or smuggle them to a neighbouring country where they are paying close to market prices for their petrol. The rewards for these illegal activities are obviously enormous. It is therefore of absolute importance that the relevant ministry comes up with a workable plan so that the government does not waste unnecessary subsidies for those who are not entitled to these subsidies. Ultimately, each and every one of us has to bear the cost for such wastage and illegality. A better system has to be put in place soon for the better and more effective utilization of the Government’s hard earned money. The government needs a new oil subsidy method immediately. The government needs a more effective enforcement unit to address the illegal sale of subsidized oil. Our country cannot continue to waste subsidies on non target groups at the expense of the whole nation.

Dato Sri Speaker,
As we sat here yesterday, the Long Lama area faced a shortage of diesel. The shortage was caused by the new supply arrangement whereby all Unbranded Mini Stations (UMS) in Sarawak no longer get their oil supply from Petronas, but instead from a company called MAZ Enterprise Sdn Bhd. Such arrangement was supposed to take effect from 1st January, 2008. However, due to unknown reasons, the said company was not ready to supply the oil yet. We were told that Petronas was informed to stop supplying oil to the UMS from 1st May, 2008 as MAZ was supposed to be ready to take over the oil supply on that date. From information we gathered, MAZ was not ready to do the supply yet on the appointed date and therefore had caused a shortage of oil in the rural area where the UMS operate. This is a classic case of new policy or change that was done without proper planning or with no apparent advantages to the operators and the consumers. We were informed by both the UMS operators and Petronas representatives that they were quite happy with the previous system. I hope the relevant authorities and company will handle this matter seriously and urgently so as not to create sufferings for the consumers and operators. I must record with thanks the assistance of the officers of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumers Affairs who took immediate actions to tackle this oil shortage crisis when this matter was highlighted to them.

Crimes
Tuan Yang Terutama highlighted to us His concern on crimes during his address. Crimes have been a talking point everywhere we go in Sarawak. In fact it was a hot topic during the question time in this august House yesterday. The people are not used to the spate of crimes that have seemed to affect our daily lives. I hear some people cannot sleep at night, some people fear each time they return home, and countless stories of the need to change their lifestyle because of fear of crime. The Sarawak people are scared. We have been informed that the police are trying their best. And that the force is facing manpower and other constraints. The people want a change to all these. The people don’t want to hear any more explanations. The people demand that something is done to put crimes under control & they want this done now. It is time that the Police and other related agencies make a determined effort that shows result. Maybe the current methods of crime prevention and crime solving need to be changed. The government must ensure that the police get all the help they need to produce satisfactory results. Perhaps it is time that we learn from other countries which have successfully dealt with crime control. Perhaps it is time that we really focus on the major crime issues and work out effective plans to solve these crimes and to control them. We have many soldiers and rangers that are camped in most of the urban cities and towns in Sarawak. As the police have often complained of insufficient manpower to fight crime, perhaps we can consider getting the help of soldiers and rangers to accompany the police to do patrolling. If the laws and regulations do not permit this, we have to change them to enable this to be realized for the benefit of the people.

When would-be criminals see that crimes could be committed and criminals could get away easily without being caught, they would be encouraged to be involved in criminal activities. The Police must show results and tell them that crimes do not pay, and that they will be punished severely when they commit crimes. We must discourage criminal activities.

I would like to raise a news report in today’s Borneo Post, page 20, that the Sessions Court in Miri had yesterday discharged not amounting to acquittal six men charged with arm robbery. The Judge Azhahari Kamal Ramli said that the case had been fixed for final hearing, and it was unfair to further detain the accused. Prosecuting officer Chief Inspector Kerry Dunstan Muda applied for postponement because he was representing Miri deputy public prosecutor who had to attend another case in Bintulu. The general public does not understand and is concerned with this court decision. They are worried. We must address this issue urgently.

Perhaps it is also time for us to look into the laws that penalize criminals in this country. Are the laws too lenient? If not, why are criminals not scared of the laws? There are jokes that the criminals felt that imprisonment is not necessary a bad thing, as they get free food & lodging compared to the harsh living conditions that they may be living in. It is time to review and introduce penalties that will really discourage criminal activities in our country. Stiffer punishments like canning and hard labour may be deterrent for the criminals. The people are scared. The government must be serious about this and get things done immediately, to bring confidence on law and order back into the community.

Metal theft
This has been a hot topic in Malaysia for some time. Despite all the publicity, theft of public and private properties seems to be on the increase due to the good prices of metal in the world market. We are hearing a lot of theft cases of telephone wire, electricity cables, and council properties such as drain covers and building materials from housing developers’ worksites. Metal theft has already got out of hands. Miri City Council has spent hundred of thousands of ringgit of ratepayers money to change and replace drain covers to concrete ones. Sesco and Telecom have also spent vast amount of money to replace stolen utilities. The theft is costly to the community. This has also caused inconvenience and sometimes become a danger to the general public. The trend is getting worrisome for the different authorities. We already have fatality in Sabah where electrical poles collapsed due to theft of metal parts. We must be serious about this. We cannot let this happen in Sarawak. Apart from putting the blame solely on the Police, the citizens must play a part to help address this appalling situation. Perhaps, a special hotline in each city or town is put in place for the general public to alert the appointed agency to deal with the matter immediately. Such a hotline should be able to take calls of theft as well as information relating to the buying or selling of stolen metal. We must make sure that prompt and appropriate actions be taken by people who are put in charge to achieve results of success. We must be serious about dealing with this. We must put an end to metal theft. Perhaps it is time to set up a special Task Force just to look into metal theft in the state. Such Task Force must have powers to carry out actions it deem necessary in order to help arrest the culprits, especially the illegal traders. It must also be empowered to propose any amendment of laws to control metal theft and metal trade. We need to take immediate actions now. The people and the government should not have to face this inconvenience and cost any longer.

Capacity Building
YAB Chief Minister had announced that the state would focus on building its capacity to help meet the requirements of the future. There are simply so many future opportunities for the development of the state’s economy through both industrial and agricultural developments in the state. To enable us to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead including the implementation of Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE), we must create and build our infrastructure, our utilities supply and our human resources. This will need the concerted effort and hard work by both the government and the private sectors. We have the ability, the natural resources, and a growing large pool of young trainable people to help push this important thrust ahead. We should work together to support this important new initiative for the long term future prosperity of this state.

The Chief Minister of Penang recently announced that the state lost RM1 billion of foreign investment due to insufficient gas supply. It was also reported that some RM5 billion of foreign investment was lost in other states due to insufficient infrastructure. We can now clearly see the importance of SCORE to Sarawak economy as infrastructure and energy will be very part of this corridor. It may yet be the factors that help determine the amount of foreign investment we will eventually get in Sarawak.

Intention of Sarawak My Second Home
This august House has shown a lot of interest in the Sarawak My Second Home program. I am sure that one of the objectives of promoting foreigners to make Sarawak their second home was to encourage inflow of funds and investments into the state. We have here in Sarawak many retired and near retired Malaysians from outside Sarawak who have worked and lived here since their young bachelor days, are now happily married with families, and with sizeable retirement funds and investment including their homes here. If we are after the investments, this group of people certainly has them. However I feel that, it is not their monetary worth that should take priority, it is in state their contribution to the state all these years as employees and businessmen , and their Sarawak born families who deserve special attention for permanent residence or otherwise. In granting them permanent residence, we are in fact hitting two birds with one stone. We will be meeting our investment targets as well as solving the social and welfare wellbeing of people who are very much a part of Sarawak.

Piasau Bailey Bridge and Fishermen
The Piasau Bailey Bridge in Miri carries with it a long history. It was constructed by Shell to serve the needs of its employees who lived in Piasau Camp, its Lutong office and of course the then Shell Hospital and the sport and social clubs. With the single lane bridge was the first traffic light in Miri that regulated the flow of traffic. Now that there are a lot more houses at the Piasau peninsular and a lot more people commuting to work in Shell and Petronas offices in Lutong, the bridge has become a bottleneck causing traffic jam during the peak hours.

The fishermen who berth their fishing boats along upriver Piasau Utara, Lutong, and Pujut are also facing difficulties caused by the low height of the Piasau Bailey Bridge. There are about 50 fishing boats affected by this. They have to wait for low tide to get through the bridge. So they incur unnecessary idle time as a result. This means both inconvenience and loss of revenue for the fishermen who are already facing a tough time due to smaller catches nowadays.

I hope that the government will look into building a new bridge to deal with the problems mentioned.
The fishermen who met me recently also told me that there are a lot of foreign trawlers fishing in our waters. The foreign trawlers used nets that damaged the corals, sea beds etc. They mentioned that the foreign trawlers are over fishing and damaging the fish breeding grounds. The local fishermen said they used to spend less than a week in the sea each time, but now they have to spend close to ten days at a time and yet catch less fish than before. I was informed that those were Thailand fishing boats licensed by the federal government. If what the local fishermen said was correct, we need to immediately look into this issue of the foreign fishing boats using methods that will damage our fishing ground for good. Actions need to be taken immediately to protect our fishing grounds, our marine life, and the livelihood of our fishermen for the sake of current and future generations. We must review the licensing of foreign fishing boats. We must make sure that our marine police and other enforcing agencies are working to check compliance of accepted fishing practice. Actions must be taken immediately to ensure that our fishing grounds and corals will not be damaged permanently.

Dato Sri Speaker,
The first sitting of the 16th Sarawak State Legislative Assembly in July 2006 witnessed scene and comments by honourable members from the Opposition who chose not to wear the official attire for reasons better known to themselves. The Honourable member for Padungan in fact wore the official attire without the ‘songkok’ as he probably felt that it was not proper for him to do so. I am delighted that he had in this sitting decided to wear the ‘songkok’ as part of the official attire. He had most certainly been influenced by his counter parts in Peninsula Malaysia who wore the ‘songkok’ during the swearing in sessions of members of the elected state legislative councils in Perak & Selangor. The other Honourable Members from DAP might have followed suit but they did not have the attire to do so. I can not help but jump to conclusion that they had the habit of opposing this government with the slightest chance of excuse just for the sake of opposing.

DAP had always demanded that land lease renewal in Sarawak should be granted with perpetuity titles. The Nanyang Siang Pau on 12th April, 2008, reported that when Honourable Members for Batu Lintang and Bukit Assek visited the new Selangor State Government on 11th April, 2008, they were informed by the Selangor State Exco Member from DAP, Teresa Kok that the Selangor State Government would not issue perpetual land title to its people. Now, I am confused with DAP stand on the land issue. There must be valid reasons why DAP of Selangor was making this stand which is different to that of the Sarawak DAP. Perhaps DAP being a part of the Selangor government realizes that it is not easy for a responsible government to issue perpetuity land. Maybe DAP can give an explanation on this.

Dato Sri Speaker,
I did a quick check on four respectable foreign government websites yesterday. The four are ‘Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs’, ‘British Foreign & Commonwealth Office’, ‘USA.gov’ and ‘London Gazette’. For the information of this august House, all four websites carry disclaimer clauses. The Honourable Member for Bukit Assek had yesterday queried why the state government websites had disclaimer clauses. As a lawyer, the Honourable Member for Bukit Assek must know why all these respectable foreign websites have disclaimer clauses. Is he really serious in hinting that our state government websites should remove the disclaimer clauses?

Sometimes, I cannot help but conclude that the Opposition brings up points in this august House just to throw the government in bad light to gain political mileage for themselves. Please check it out, Honourable Members for Bukit Assek. Do not ask this government to remove the protection that it seeks as a normal course of its duty and rights as also practiced by other reputable overseas government.

As the Dayak festive season is drawing near, I wish to take this opportunity to wish all our Dayak friends “Selamat Hari Gawai Gayu Guyu Gerai Nyamai”.

With this note I wish to move the motion that this Dewan resolves to express its appreciation to Tuan Yang Terutama Yang di-Pertua Negeri for his gracious address to this august House on 5th May, 2008.

Thank you.