Years Of Empty Promises And Underdevelopment Turn Sarawak's Natives Into Anti-BN Activists

It is now 58 years after independence and we are just five years away from Vision 2020, but major parts of the country still remains divided and unnaturally undeveloped compared to the urban areas in Peninsular Malaysia.

While every other year or two, politicians start discussions and conversations on building yet another magnanimous tower or skyscraper in the country's capital, the number of people in East Malaysia that are surviving without basic necessities, including water and electricity supply are increasing.

Elections come and go every five years, more Malaysia plans and budgets are drawn with huge sums of allocation for the development of Sabah and Sarawak, but in reality, villages do not have water, electricity or paved roads, schools are located hours away from villages, and more ancestral lands are being taken away from the villagers, slowly but surely.

Election campaigns are usually filled with many promises of new roads, fresh water supply, electricity, funds to develop lands for farming, among other development ideas. The political parties win the elections, usually reveal more development plans and then years and decades pass by with hardly anything done.

Should they start the projects, some are left undone like the promised road project in Pitas that was abandoned halfway through.

The villagers spent 15 years reaching out to the government to finish it and when all that failed, they ended up building their own road.

Schools in Sabah and Sarawak are not only located far away from the settlements and villages, but the journey in itself is dangerous for the young children. Instead of focusing on their studies and homework, the kids are forced to be up at wee hours in the morning, get ready in darkness, and trek to school for hours.

There are even reported cases of fatalities that happened when the children are bracing through high current rivers just to get to school.

All this to get to schools that are in ruins, with some frail enough to fall apart and injure school students.

The thriving local logging industry is supported by the vast rainforest of Malaysia, with most of it situated in Sabah and Sarawak. To meet the growing demands for timber, some local corporation owners resort to horrible means for the sake of increasing their profits.

The natives, the people living in rural areas in Sabah and Sarawak are mostly living in their ancestral lands and the elders of the community are mostly involved in farming, fishing and treat the forests as their home.

Sadly, it isn't only their lands that are taken away; there are multiple reported rape cases of Penan women and girls by the staffs of logging companies. They are constantly threatened and exploited by outsiders looking to make profits out of their livelihoods and lands.

While it is a common knowledge that most Malaysians are originally from various parts of Asia, with most originating from China, India, and Indonesia, the natives of this country, the Orang Asli, are the true owners of the land.

But as most Malaysians comfortably own houses and continue leading their lives on their own terms, the natives of this country are fighting to protect their homes with everything they have from the greedy lawmakers and exploitative business people.

Based on a report by Hornbill Unleashed in February 2011, the company, Quality Concrete, is owned by then Chief Minister of Sarawak, Taib Mahmud's sister, Radziah Mahmud, cousin Hamed Sepawi and Mahmud’s brother-in-law and former Sarawak State Secretary Abdul Aziz Bin Husain.

According to the police report, forged and forced signatures of the land owners were used in documents that suggest that the natives are allowing the loggers to enter their lands and to log as they please.

Reasons for their change in allegiance can stem from the major, life-changing developments DAP's Impian Sarawak has been working on in various rural areas in Sarawak, Sabah and other underdeveloped places throughout Malaysia.

From building gravity-feed water system, roads, to running free education and medical camps in the villages, Impian's volunteers and the DAP politicians that spearhead these projects, have managed to give these villagers a beacon of hope and changes that are actually useful for them.

Now, the people living in most of Sarawak's rural areas no longer have to walk for hours just to get a bucket of water or lead their lives in darkness, thanks to Impian's initiatives that have brought fresh water supply and electricity to all these villages.

Thoughtful changes and genuine interest in the people's lives prove to be excellent qualities that these political leaders posses.

In line with that, Kedup assemblyman Martin Ben has recently revealed that, around 60 villages in the area, may get fresh water supply in the next five years, under the 11th Malaysia Plan, according to a report by the Borneo Post, yesterday.

He also talked about how all the villages in Kedup are connected by roads but some are yet to be tar-sealed and there are still villages in that area that do not have electricity.

“God-willing, these projects will be completed under the 11th Malaysia Plan,” he added.