Karim Raslan: Yet, East Kalimantan, Sabah’s immediate neighbour, is one of the republic’s richest provinces.

By KARIM RASLAN

Most Sabahans view Indonesians as just labourers or household servants, oblivious to the fact that its Borneo neighbour is one of Indonesia’s richest provinces.

I COMPLAIN about our politicians talking too much, but I’m becoming just as much a culprit. I seem to be delivering speeches all the time. So, first off, my apologies for being a rank hypocrite.

Anyhow, last week, I was in Kota Kinabalu chairing a session on the business opportunities that exist between Sabah and the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan.

I had been invited (along with some Indonesian guests) by the government agency Sedia, which runs the Sabah Development Corri­dor.

While the talk was lively, I was struck once again by how little Malaysians know about Indonesia. Whereas all the Indonesians present had visited Kota Kinabalu, very few of the Sabahans had any idea about Indonesian locales like the East Kalimantan oil and gas hub of Balikpapan or the provincial capital of Samarinda.

Yong: Sabah govt in denial over poverty

By Queville To

KOTA KINABALU: The poor in Sabah may have just got a little poorer following the nationwide hike in petrol and sugar prices. But the state government is in denial and claims that "all is well."

Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Yong Teck Lee, however, is demanding that the government “show us the real numbers” to substantiate its claims that poverty is not a serious problem in Sabah.

Yong said that if the government used real facts and figures ,the truth would be out.

“Chief Minister (Musa Aman), like other ministers recently, again cited the so-called e-Kasih data to put the number of hardcore poor household heads (KIRMT) at only 7,455.

“In fact, on the ground, 'e-Kasih' has already been discredited as being 'p-Kasih' meaning 'pilih kasih' (favouritism) because e-Kasih involves cash handouts to selected persons.

"Not all poor people are registered under e-Kasih. Any grassroots leader who walks around a poor village will come across many hardcore poor villagers who say they have been excluded from the e-Kasih programme,” said Yong, a former chief minister.

Umno-BN can't keep promises due to 'corrupt nature'

By Luke Rintod

KOTA KINABALU: DAP has blamed Umno-Barisan Nasional's 'corrupt nature' for the regime's inability to meet promises it had made to Sabahans in 1994 and 2007.

Its national disciplinary committee chairman, Tan Kok Wai, said it is this inherent characteristic that had led the Umno-led BN to plunder Sabah's resources.

Tan, who is also MP for Cheras, recalled that in the 1994 general election, BN in its manifesto pledged that there would be zero poverty in Sabah by the year 2000, but today, 10 years later poverty still plagues the state.

"In 2007, the BN state chief minister again promised Sabahans that poverty would be eradicated by the year 2010 and that there would be no more hardcore poor in the state by 2009, but today Sabahans remain the poorest in Malaysia.

Sabah belongs to Sabahans

It will be a fatal mistake if opposition politicians from the peninsula ride roughshod over the sensitivities of the people of Sabah. It is well known that the land below the wind (now the land of illegals) has long been seething with anger at the federal masters. Rich in natural resources, bigger than the peninsula, they should be enjoying the fruits of their natural wealth and holding the future in their hands. Instead, fate was unkind to them and today they live under the yoke of “alien” rule. For a brief spell, they had power but because of the machination of a devious dominant peninsular party, they lost their high seat. Though their politically emasculated Huguan Siou (paramount leader) now sits at the same table with the hated “conquerors”, life there does not seem to change for the better.