Tuan Speaker, I rise to debate on the Motion
in appreciation to the speech delivered by his Excellency Tuan Yang Terutama
(TYT) in this August House on the 11th May 2017.
Current economic situation
Tuan Speaker, it pains me to report to this
House how terrible is the current economy and how the ordinary people on the
street is struggling to make ends meet and how difficult it is to keep their
businesses afloat, their jobs secure and their home from their creditors such
as the banks.
The economic outlooks for them are grim and
getting grimmer month by month. Business has dropped by some 50%, cost of
operating up by some 20% thanks in part to the GST and to the depreciation of
ringgit. Small and medium industry is getting hard hit and many have either
laid off their employees or in the mid of doing that to keep their businesses
afloat.
Wage earners on the other hand have to face
the reality of either settle for a wage cut or lose their jobs while the banks
and creditors knock on their doors for unpaid mortgage or hire purchase
instalments. Parents with kids in higher education institutions, foreign or
local, are crying out for help as prices of everything goes up while their
incomes are coming down sharply and they don’t know whether they can continue
to support their kids’ education much longer.
Pensioners and retirees are facing the uphill
task of making ends meet as their savings are simply insufficient to cover
their supposedly “golden years”.
On another side of the spectrum, we have
government servants who although have the security of tenure as well as the
comfort of perks attached to their position still find their purchasing power
dwindling and their standard of life adversely affected.
But then again there were those senior
government officers, most of them at the pinnacle of their career, who had been
in the limelight for the worst reason; corruption. We have seen report of head
of departments who steal hundreds of million as reported by the MACC. That’s
why people do not trust the government as they will think that if a HOD can
have hundreds of millions, then how about cabinet ministers? I don’t blame the
people who have the negative perception of the government, I empathize with
them especially during the economy hard time where they can’t even make ends
meet.
But do our ministers know or even care? What
have they done to alleviate the suffering of our people except going to the
press to paint a rosy picture of the economy? Are they more concerned about how
many ribbon cutting events they are invited to or how many speeches they have
done to show their VVIP status?
Instead of thinking ways of improving the
economy and increase the incomes of the people, the government is more concern
about announcing some mega projects that costs billions and some might not be
practical and might end up burdening the rakyat further.
The way forward for Sibu, a 2-pronged
solutions
Tuan Speaker, Sibu and many smaller towns in central region
of Sarawak such Sarikei, Bintagor, Kanowit, Julau, Pekan and Tambin have not
seen much growth in the past 15 years. People, especially the youth are moving
out because of the lack of opportunities.
But what have the government done to reverse
the downward trends and help bring back growth for Sibu and its surrounding
towns? What are the plans put in place to bring jobs and business opportunity
to the central region of Sarawak? As far as I know, NIL.
.
1)Tuan Speaker, I am now proposing something that can bring
tens of billion, yes, tens of billion, of revenue without asking the government
to pump in billions and without cutting down our natural forest.
All the government needs to do is to open its
ears and minds to the ideas and formulate policies in support of them. Our
government policies should be people and business friendly so that the private
sectors can play their parts to bring business and economic development to
Sarawak.
Tuan Speaker, I am talking about rubber wood
and rubber-based industries. Our deputy CM Datuk Amar Douglas has on 20th March 2017 spoken of the need to set up a
Master Plan for the rubber industry and stated that tyre manufacturers are keen
to invest in Sarawak, if the state has sufficient rubber plantation to support
the industry. He said he was informed of this by the Malaysia Rubber Board D-G
during a meeting.
Tuan Speaker, our previous deputy CM Datuk
Patinggi Alfred Jabu has stated in 2013 that another 20,000 hectares of land
has been opened up for rubber plantation in the state in addition of the existing
16,000 hectares of matured plantation and 8,250 hectares which had been
cultivated in 2012. He further stated the government has targeted to open up
250,000 hectares of rubber plantation across the state by 2020.
Tuan Speaker, I would not know how many of the
250,000 hectares of rubber has been planted since then but I do know that the
government has a tradition of “Cakap Besar”. But one thing is cleared, we have
not counted the thousands of acres of rubber plantation of the small holders. D
Tuan Speaker, I have recently met a Malaysian
who tried to start off the Rubber wood processing factory in Sibu. He has obtained the rubber wood
export license, but he can’t get the license to build a rubber wood factory or
mill in Sibu. In order to obtain the production and processing license, the
government want the company to go to TG MANIS to buy an industrial lot.
He also disclosed that
the government expect every small plantation owner to go to the Forest
Department to apply for a clearance license. This burdens the small plantation
owners immensely. He questions the need of the small plantation owners to
obtain clearance license from the Forest department since the rubber trees were
planted by themselves unlike the forest wood.
Sarawak has abundant supply of rubber wood
which all these while has been left to rot simply because the state government
does not have any idea how big is the industry.
Tuan Speaker, rubber wood and the forest wood is
not the same, rubber wood has a fragrance easily lead to several bacterial.
Rubber wood is selected as the main choice of furniture wood due to its
beautiful white lines and durability, but the processing time must be well
managed. Time is the key issue, from logging to cutting, the injection of
anti-corrosive chemical and drying must be continue in one go.
The main usage of rubber wood is the rubber wood
furniture, when it comes to rubber wood furniture, the most famous is Muar in
Johor. Muar is a furniture city, 80% or more of the country’s annual export of
furniture is from Muar. The main furniture export is the rubber wood
furniture because of its beauty and generous grains, annual revenue of the
Rubber Wood Furniture is estimated to be in the region of RM 8-10 billion.
Why is Muar so successful? There are several
main factors. The late former Industry minister Dr. Lim Kim Yi had done much
contribution in rubber industry such as the waiver of license for rubber wood
cutting. The rubber plantation owner is a small plantation owner who planted
their own trees, they can sell their rubber wood directly to the rubber wood
processing factory without hindrance.
Each year the export and local demand of rubber
wood is hundreds thousands of cubic meters, each cubic meter generates RM 120
to the government state coffer, bringing in millions of tax revenue for the government.
The export of rubber wood products also bring in billions in revenue. Hundreds
of thousands of jobs opportunities were also created through the spin-off of
the rubber wood industry.
At one time, all the factories in West
Malaysia can only be set up at industrial area, just like Sarawak, until the
federal government revoked the above rules. Since then, all the rubber wood
processing factories were allowed to be set up near the rubber plantation
instead of industrial zone.
The government also did away the needs for
license for small plantation owners to clear their rubber wood.
Once these two issues have being resolved, there
is no looking back as West Malaysia Rubber wood furniture brings in billions to
the economy.
Rubber can bring tens of
billions of downstream industrial development, rubber latex industry, rubber
wood furniture city development, automatic harvesting rubber system, rubber
large industrial center development, and an export furniture exhibition hall in
Sibu would be a quantum leap for the development of Sibu and the whole central
region of Sarawak.
2) Tuan Speakers, I had submitted a Sibu Outer
Link Proposal to our CM office during the time of our late CM, Tan Sri Adenan
Satem. The proposal was submitted after careful study of the congestion in Sibu
as well as the lack of road connectivity for Sibu expansion. Within the
proposal was the upgrading of Jalan Ulu Sg. Merah, Jalan Igan and part of Jalan
Oya (from the junction of Jalan RTM to Jalan Deshon) as well as the
construction of a new road from the roundabout at Jalan Aman-Wong King Hos to
Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman (near JPJ Sibu) and another new road linking Teku to
Kemuyang area.
Why is it so difficult for the state government
to grant RM 70 million for the 5 state constituencies in Sibu? What I proposed
wasn’t for my constituency of Pelawan only but include the 3 state seats held
by BN (Dudong, Bawang Assan and Nangka), I guess the BN can’t explain why the
proposal was submitted by DAP’s rep. and thus would like to withhold the proposal
even at the expenses of BN constituencies?
The whole proposal was only RM 70 million as
compared to the billions that the CM proposed for the LRT in Kuching, Samarahan
and Serian.
Tuan Speaker, instead of
knowing only to spend money it is time for the government to be serious about
propositions that bring tax revenue, earn export incomes as well as enriching
the ordinary peoples. I urge the state government to take my proposition seriously
if they are really for the rakyat.
The new CM chasing after
the wrong shadow
Tuan Speaker, our new CM has tried very hard
to outdo his predecessor, the late Tan Sri Adenan Satem, by announcing several
major projects that will cost billions. I understand his frustration when
everyone still talks about our late CM’s contributions to Sarawak but the new
CM must remember the BN election promises including taking back our autonomy,
20% oil and gas royalties and regain those rights that were eroded under the BN
administration. The new CM must first accomplished what the late CM’s left
behind and not try to outdo his predecessor at whatever cost.
The government’s announcement years ago that
SCORE (Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy) will create 2.5 million high-pay
jobs to Sarawak, and how much business spill over for the towns along the
collider of Score. But what’s the actual score on this? I doubt that even
50,000 high pay jobs have been created since the creation of SCORE.
Isn’t it a fact that the state government had
put all its hope for Sarawak developments based on SCORE from its creation in
2008 to 2014? It had all the while been the central theme of Sarawak
developments and then suddenly dropped out of the limelight and we don’t hear
anything about SCORE anymore.
The government has invested so much in SCORE
and the construction of DAMs were justified because of SCORE. Now it seems that
the government has given up SCORE altogether. The new CM has to give
Sarawakians a justifiable explaination
New CM doesn’t know his own standing
I wish to remind our right honorary CM that
there is something called Sarawak Budget, which as the finance minister, he has
to table and has to be passed by this House before the Executive can set aside
the money needed to finance the projects. This is more so when we are talking
about projects that could very well wipe out whatever Reserve we have
accumulated over the decades.
Tuan Speaker, lets us remind the Executive or
the Cabinet that they are subject to scrutiny of this House. Ours is a
democratic system of government based on the Westminster model and the
constitution has therefore vested the power over the purse in the hands of the
chosen representatives of the people. No taxation without representation is
thus the cardinal principle of the system of government. Prudent budget
planning by the executive to be scrutinize and passed by the legislature is the
constitutional obligation of the government both at the Parliament and in this
House. Legislative prerogative over taxation, and legislative control over
expenditure and Executive initiatives in planning and financial matter are some
of the fundamental principles of the system of Parliamentary financial control.
Tuan Speaker, our new CM has announced the
following projects that cost billions:
1) Purchase of Bakun
Hydaulic project that cost RM 2 billion and another RM 6.5 billion in financial
liability in the form of debt of the said company,
2) The setting up of
Sarawak Development Bank,
3) The implementation of
the 20 TB high speed broadband,
4) The implementation of
LRT which we know will cost billions but non-disclosure by the CM,
5) The setting up of
Upper Kapit Development board
6) The grid piping water
delivery system.
Tuan Speaker, without putting the Executive to
account, our State Reserves could be wiped out soon and budget in deficit in
the years to come.
Failed or poor delivery system
Apart from the dire state of the economy, our
people suffer the poor public service delivery system although the government
promised to improve the delivery system with KPI and so many fancy terms.
DUN Reforms
Tuan Speaker, Spekaers are the key pillars in
the democratic process and should be politically impartial, says the Sultan
Sharafuddin Idris Shah. The Sultan also said a Speaker should not take sides,
be it the ruling or the opposition. He further lauded Speaker Hannah Yeoh to
make it compulsory for the opposition leader to lead the Public Account
Committee.
Tuan Speaker, there is no arguing that DUN
Sarawak needs reform so that the Westminster Parliamentary system where there
is a separation of powers among the Legislature, Judicial and Executive is
preserved.
Parliamentary Reforms should be the sole
prerogative of Parliament and not contingent on Executive or Cabinet approval.
Under the Westminster Parliamentary system the Speaker is the leader of the
House while the CM is the head of the Executive or Cabinet. I urge Tuan Speaker
to consider DUN reforms to remove certain restrictive Standing Order as well as
making changes necessary to keep up with time.
With that I conclude my speech, thank you.
