by Dr John Brian Anthony
Giving Sarawak $1 billion is a waste of public money. Why did the PM give it to Sarawak? There is no need to reward them for winning the PRU12 – after all without BN Sarawak is nothing.
The above statement was directed at Sarawak by a 33 year old man living in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. In the first place, what has Sarawak done to help Malaysia he said. Being a Dayak Iban from Sarawak – it gives me a great insight on the thinking of young West Malaysian and their knowledge of Malaysia as a whole.
=========
Maybe the question should be "Can Sarawak pull out of Malaysia?"
Dr John Brian Anthony
Jun 17, 08
4:09pm
Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/84604
In the last parliament sitting, there were not many questions from Sarawak MPs. The MP for Kapit Alexander Linggi asked whether the federal government was considering giving 20% of the oil royalty back to Sarawak but the answer was a big 'No'.
Sarawak despite being an oil-producing state is one of the three most backward states in Malaysia - how is this possible?
Are we spending too much money on projects that are not generating profit for the people or are we so corrupt that the government uses the money to benefit only politically-linked companies?
Here are details of the royalty paid by Petronas from March 2004 to March 2007:
Petronas pays the federal government : RM13.4 billion
Petronas pays Terengganu : RM7.3 billion
Petronas pays Sarawak : RM4.8 billion
Petronas pay Sabahs : RM1.2 billion
Oil production for each state for the year ending Apr 2007:
Terengganu : 133.7 million barrels
Sarawak : 79 million barrels
Sabah : 28.6 million barrels
Gas production:
Trengganu : 748.2 billion cubic feet
Sarawak : 1,292 billion cubic feet
Sabah : 41.2 billion cubic feet
Total sales of Petronas' petroleum and gas products as at March 2007
RM165.3 billion
In my opinion, a five percent royalty to Sarawak is simply too small (RM4.8 billion for three years). A 20 percent is more reasonable and this over three years will give Sarawak RM19.2 billion.
With that kind of money, our roads, water and electricity infrastructure can be massively improved from their current low level.
How does the Sarawak government use the current oil royalty money? In Bintulu, the road leading to the MLNG plant, ABF, Bintulu Port and the Shell BCOT has not being resurfaced for 20 years. There are many fatal accidents there caused by poor the road surface.
Shouldn't the oil royalty be used to better the condition of other roads (Ulu Sebauh Road for example), supply electricity to longhouses and improve on the poor school conditions?
Is our Sarawak oil money being used to ensure Ketuanan Melayu - financing so many failing Umno-related businesses? We feel that the Sarawak natives have been left behind in economic terms. The timber sales, too, have not given the natives much benefit.
Dayaks have being losing out as the state's riches have found their way elsewhere. This has to change.
http://www.generationrescue.org/desiree_jennings.html
Story of a young lady who took a seasonal influenza shot which triggered a neurological disease.
I think the lesson here is that, if it ain't broken, don't try to fix it!
If you've discovered that your cursor suddenly because 'cross hair' despite setting it to precise/etc... check that you have CAPS LOCK OFF! I've always been puzzled over this. After so many years, I finally figured it out, by a wild guess.
Cheers
Nick Vujicic was born without limbs. Has a great testimony, very open about his disabilities and definitely inspiring.
Here's a video of one of his motivational talks in Singapore:
There are other videos there. The one in China Tianjin(?) University is quite interesting. Still viewing others...
... but what can we do about it?
... especially if you're interested in Sarawak's history. IMO, very well researched and provides perhaps the most accurate and unbiased account. Currently in the hands of "the mummy".
Click me! for more info on the book.
Was going through a gps map and to my horror, I did not recognize many of the road names of Kuching! Instead I saw names of Datuks and people whom I could not care less about, and who care even less for me. It is an outrage that road names are changed to promote individuals who supposedly contributed to the state etc. Please, leave us in peace! Anyhow, decided to do a mini project of compiling these name changes... Since we're at it, let's not just stick to road names, but places as well.
Here goes:
1. Jalan Keretapi - Jalan Tun Ahmad Zaidi Adruce
2. Jalan Engkabang - Jalan Sherip Masahor
3. Jalan Penrissen (part of it) - Jalan Datuk Amar Kalong Ningkan & Jalan Datuk Tawi Sli (How on earth are we suppose to remember [let alone say] such long names?
--"Eh, how to get there?"
--"Neh, use Jalan Datuk Amar Kalong Ningkan"
--"Hah? Jalan Datuk what? Which Datuk?"
--"Jalan Datuk Amar Kalong Ningkan la"
--"Isn't is Jalan Datuk Amar Stephen Kalong Ningkan?")
4. Jalan Lapangan Terbang - Jalan Persekutuan (WTH?!?!?!)
5. Central Padang - Padang Merdeka
6. Simanggang - Sri Aman (What's wrong with Simanggang? And what's with the Sri this Sri that? I'm sure there's a history as to why it was called Simanggang!)
7. 7th mile - Kota Sentosa (Must say, this particular name change is one of the very few that's positive since ppl used to relate 7 mile with the phychiatric institution there)
Please comment if you can think of other name changes and I'll update the list. I really think someone ought to knock some sense into those people up there about changing road names based on their whim and fancy especially if the road names are so long winded and confusing with all the datuk, amar, tun etc..
Just watched the movie. I'm left literally speechless. Baffled.
"Young Bruno lives a wealthy lifestyle in Pre-war Germany along with his mother, elder sister, and army Commandant father. The family re-locate to the countryside where his father is assigned to commandeer a prison camp. A few days later, Bruno befriends another youth, strangely dressed in striped pyjamas, named Shmuel who lives behind an electrified fence. Bruno will soon find out that he is not permitted to befriend his new friend as he is a Jew, and that the neighboring yard is actually a prison camp for Jews awaiting extermination."
The ending scene was hard to watch. It was a scene where you feared for the worst, while disbelieving your fear because it is too devastating to be possible... only to discover that it is precisely what happens (sorry, minor spoiler here). And then the movie ends abruptly with no conclusion to console your troubled 'heart'. And so after you eventually recover from the 'shock', you are forced to come up with your own consolation as if in an useless attempt to make sense out of the insanity of it all.
I still have a lump in my throat that won't go away.
**WARNING**SPOILER**
...in WHITE, so you can only view it if you highlight the text. My advice, watch the movie first!
One thing really troubled me about the movie. In the last scene, seeing the two children 'meet their fate' really saddened me, because well, they were children - being innocent and all. But immediately then, I realized that I was not feeling any particular emotion for the rest of the innocent people who met the same fate. This isn't surprising, because they were 'strangers' to me (regrettably, it was as if they mattered less, at least in the movie), whereas I was quite acquainted with the children (they were the main characters of the movie). In reality, we do tend to (or perhaps even choose to) forget and ignore the fact that every stranger is not a stranger to everyone. Every stranger is surely connected to someone else.
Anyway it got me thinking, it's so easy to pass judgment on the Germans during the WWII - even those who were not directly involved - for being heartless and for choosing to be ignorant of the truth. But I question myself, had I been in their shoes at that time and in the same circumstances, would I have cared any more? And it scares me to think that I would perhaps have reacted in the same way. Indeed wars and its atrocities demand judgement, but perhaps more importantly, for us as individuals, it should serve as a reminder and warning of the frailty of so-called humanity. And that we should never think of ourselves as more than mere human - that we too are governed by the same weaknesses. It is therefore our responsibility to guard ourselves and those around us from succumbing to that very weakness.
... or maybe I'm just over analyzing, or it's that time of the night (morning) which messes around with your mind.There were many critiques (on IMDB) that said that the movie exploited the viewers emotions, taking them on a roller coaster ride, but stopped short on finding a purpose. I beg to differ. If this movie can cause me to question my own moralities, surely there is great substance in it. You just have stop dismantling the movie, and start digging in the right area - yourself, and how the movie has changed you.
Eitherhow, if you've watched it, would love to hear what you thought of it. Goodnight.
