KDM the new underclass under UMNO ‘s Sabah Baru
The most shocking result after 13 years of Umno and Barisan Nasional rule of Sabah is that the Kadazandusun and Murut (KDM) communities have emerged as the new underclass in Sabah like the Indians in Peninsular Malaysia – while UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders waxed indecently rich
_______________________________
Speech on the 2007 Supplementary Estimates
by Lim Kit Siang
__________________________________
(Dewan Rakyat, Monday) : Sabah is in the throes of a political crisis although it is publicly denied by the Umno and Barisan Nasional leadership, whether state or national.
There is for instance a lot of play-acting over the shock abrupt resignation of Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat as Sabah Deputy Chief Minister and State Tourism Minister on Friday, with the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi fully endorsing the Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Musa Aman, in saying that Chong’s resignation was “not really a loss” because it would not weaken the Barisan Nasional state government.
In other words, although Chong was Deputy Chief Minister and one of the key digits in the in the conspiracy and strategy to establish Umno hegemony in Sabah in the early nineties, he is now completely irrelevant and expendable.
It is no surprise therefore that Chong had expressed his “hurt” at the Prime Minister’s dismissive comments about his resignation, telling Oriental Daily News today that the Prime Minister’s comment had wounded his dignity and offended the people of Sabah and the Chinese.
Kah Kiat had maintained that he was quitting the Sabah Cabinet “as a matter of principles” – implying basic and fundamental differences with the Sabah Chief Minister.
The media have reported that ties have been strained between the chief minister and his deputy for some time over numerous issues like Musa’s plans to develop Pulau Sipadan island off Sabah’s east coast, with Malaysiakini citing as “ the final straw” their differences over Chong’s proposal to build a huge statue of the Goddess of Mercy in Kudat as a tourist attraction.
It is clear however to astute political observers that Chong’s resignation is only the tip of the iceberg of what is politically wrong and even rotten in Sabah after Umno’s entry in Sabah and 13 years of Umno and Barisan Nasional control of the Sabah State Government and that the issues at stake are even bigger than Chong’s differences over “principle” with Musa.
What is the cause of the Sabah malaise and crisis? Umno has successfully made its foray into Sabah and established its unquestioned political hegemony in the state in less than a decade, but in the process, it has broken every pledge it had made on entry into Sabah.
Umno had promised a “New Sabah”, promising political equality to the major communities in Sabah by rotating the post of Chief Minister among the three major communities.
In the 1994 Sabah state general election, Umno also spelt out the “highlights” of this Sabah Baru –
* To reduce the poverty level in Sabah from 33 per cent in 1994 to zero in the year 2000;
* To eliminate illiteracy to zero in year 2,000; and
* To eradicate corruption in Sabah.
* To give every Sabahan a house by the year 2,000;
* To resolve the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah.
The utter hollowness of the Sabah Baru was tragically illustrated last month when in desperation with life in poverty which gripped his family, a 11-year-old Std. Five Dusun pupil of SK Kinarut, Donny John Dion committed suicide and hanged himself at home at Kampung Suangon in the Papar parliamentary constituency.
UMNO Papar has been shaken up by the unheard-of suicide of a 11-year-old boy because of abject poverty to help Donny’s surviving five siblings and mother, Hina Joloni – but do we have to wait until an 11-year-old boy in modern and developed Malaysia have to commit suicide to dramatically highlight the abject of his poverty of his family before some temporary aid is forthcoming from the very wealthy and powerful people in the country?
kdmIn fact, Donny’s tragic suicide is the most potent illustration of the violation of all the Umno promises of a Sabah Baru – as 13 years of Umno and Barisan Nasional rule of Sabah has created the shocking result that the Kadazandusun and Murut (KDM) communities have emerged as the new underclass in Sabah like the Indians in Peninsular Malaysia – while UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders waxed indecently rich.
In fact, in many instances, the KDM hardcore poor are even worse off than the illegal immigrants, getting better care and attention from the authorities, including issuing them with false identity cards, voting rights, hospital and education facilities.
Lets have a quick checkoff of the “highlights” of the Sabah Baru marking Umno’s entry into Sabah over a decade ago:
1. To reduce the poverty level in Sabah from 33 per cent in 1994 to zero in the year 2000
According to the Ninth Malaysia Plan tabled in Parliament in March last year, the incidence of poverty in Sabah in 2004 was the highest of all states in Malaysia, and was nowhere near zero incidence and higher than Kelantan and Terengganu. The incidence of poverty of the various states in Malaysia in 2004 were as follows:
State
Incidence of Poverty (%)
Johore
2.0
Melaka
1.8
Negri Sembilan
1.4
Perak
9.5
Pulau Pinang
0.3
Selangor
1.0
Fed.Territory (KL)
1.5
Kedah
7.0
Kelantan
10.6
Pahang
4.0
Perlis
6.3
Sabah
23.0
Sarawak
7.5
Terengganu
15.4
Sabah has also the worst incidence of hard-core poverty at 6.5% as compared the next three states with highest incidence, i.e. Terengganu 4.4% and Kedah and Kelantan 1.3%.
Four years ago, in February 2003, former Finance Minister Datuk Mustapha Mohamad who is now Higher Education Minister issued a blistering report card on Sabah’s 40 years in Malaysia – a dismal failure in development and nation-building!
Speaking at a public dialogue at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Mustapha, who was at the time the National Economic Action Council executive director and UMNO Information Chief, admitted that the management of Sabah’s resources, civil service and political situation were among the factors contributing to the state’s lackluster economic performance, reducing a “once wealthy state …..to a point of no return”.
In a most telling and cutting verdict, Mustapha said Sabah was “now in the same economic league as his native Kelantan”!
Four years after Mustapha indictment of the dismal failure of the development record of Sabah, things have got worse instead of getting better – to the extent that a 11-year-old had to commit suicide to draw the attention of the authorites to the plight of the DCM poor!
The failure of the Umno’s development record to uplift the poor and backward stratas of society is all the more deplorable when contrasted with the obscene wealth accumulated by the political high-and-mighty in Sabah
The most shocking result after 13 years of Umno and Barisan Nasional rule of Sabah is that the Kadazandusun and Murut (KDM) communities have emerged as the new underclass in Sabah like the Indians in Peninsular Malaysia – while UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders waxed indecently rich
_______________________________
Speech on the 2007 Supplementary Estimates
by Lim Kit Siang
__________________________________
(Dewan Rakyat, Monday) : Sabah is in the throes of a political crisis although it is publicly denied by the Umno and Barisan Nasional leadership, whether state or national.
There is for instance a lot of play-acting over the shock abrupt resignation of Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat as Sabah Deputy Chief Minister and State Tourism Minister on Friday, with the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi fully endorsing the Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Musa Aman, in saying that Chong’s resignation was “not really a loss” because it would not weaken the Barisan Nasional state government.
In other words, although Chong was Deputy Chief Minister and one of the key digits in the in the conspiracy and strategy to establish Umno hegemony in Sabah in the early nineties, he is now completely irrelevant and expendable.
It is no surprise therefore that Chong had expressed his “hurt” at the Prime Minister’s dismissive comments about his resignation, telling Oriental Daily News today that the Prime Minister’s comment had wounded his dignity and offended the people of Sabah and the Chinese.
Kah Kiat had maintained that he was quitting the Sabah Cabinet “as a matter of principles” – implying basic and fundamental differences with the Sabah Chief Minister.
The media have reported that ties have been strained between the chief minister and his deputy for some time over numerous issues like Musa’s plans to develop Pulau Sipadan island off Sabah’s east coast, with Malaysiakini citing as “ the final straw” their differences over Chong’s proposal to build a huge statue of the Goddess of Mercy in Kudat as a tourist attraction.
It is clear however to astute political observers that Chong’s resignation is only the tip of the iceberg of what is politically wrong and even rotten in Sabah after Umno’s entry in Sabah and 13 years of Umno and Barisan Nasional control of the Sabah State Government and that the issues at stake are even bigger than Chong’s differences over “principle” with Musa.
What is the cause of the Sabah malaise and crisis? Umno has successfully made its foray into Sabah and established its unquestioned political hegemony in the state in less than a decade, but in the process, it has broken every pledge it had made on entry into Sabah.
Umno had promised a “New Sabah”, promising political equality to the major communities in Sabah by rotating the post of Chief Minister among the three major communities.
In the 1994 Sabah state general election, Umno also spelt out the “highlights” of this Sabah Baru –
* To reduce the poverty level in Sabah from 33 per cent in 1994 to zero in the year 2000;
* To eliminate illiteracy to zero in year 2,000; and
* To eradicate corruption in Sabah.
* To give every Sabahan a house by the year 2,000;
* To resolve the problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah.
The utter hollowness of the Sabah Baru was tragically illustrated last month when in desperation with life in poverty which gripped his family, a 11-year-old Std. Five Dusun pupil of SK Kinarut, Donny John Dion committed suicide and hanged himself at home at Kampung Suangon in the Papar parliamentary constituency.
UMNO Papar has been shaken up by the unheard-of suicide of a 11-year-old boy because of abject poverty to help Donny’s surviving five siblings and mother, Hina Joloni – but do we have to wait until an 11-year-old boy in modern and developed Malaysia have to commit suicide to dramatically highlight the abject of his poverty of his family before some temporary aid is forthcoming from the very wealthy and powerful people in the country?
kdmIn fact, Donny’s tragic suicide is the most potent illustration of the violation of all the Umno promises of a Sabah Baru – as 13 years of Umno and Barisan Nasional rule of Sabah has created the shocking result that the Kadazandusun and Murut (KDM) communities have emerged as the new underclass in Sabah like the Indians in Peninsular Malaysia – while UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders waxed indecently rich.
In fact, in many instances, the KDM hardcore poor are even worse off than the illegal immigrants, getting better care and attention from the authorities, including issuing them with false identity cards, voting rights, hospital and education facilities.
Lets have a quick checkoff of the “highlights” of the Sabah Baru marking Umno’s entry into Sabah over a decade ago:
1. To reduce the poverty level in Sabah from 33 per cent in 1994 to zero in the year 2000
According to the Ninth Malaysia Plan tabled in Parliament in March last year, the incidence of poverty in Sabah in 2004 was the highest of all states in Malaysia, and was nowhere near zero incidence and higher than Kelantan and Terengganu. The incidence of poverty of the various states in Malaysia in 2004 were as follows:
State
Incidence of Poverty (%)
Johore
2.0
Melaka
1.8
Negri Sembilan
1.4
Perak
9.5
Pulau Pinang
0.3
Selangor
1.0
Fed.Territory (KL)
1.5
Kedah
7.0
Kelantan
10.6
Pahang
4.0
Perlis
6.3
Sabah
23.0
Sarawak
7.5
Terengganu
15.4
Sabah has also the worst incidence of hard-core poverty at 6.5% as compared the next three states with highest incidence, i.e. Terengganu 4.4% and Kedah and Kelantan 1.3%.
Four years ago, in February 2003, former Finance Minister Datuk Mustapha Mohamad who is now Higher Education Minister issued a blistering report card on Sabah’s 40 years in Malaysia – a dismal failure in development and nation-building!
Speaking at a public dialogue at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Mustapha, who was at the time the National Economic Action Council executive director and UMNO Information Chief, admitted that the management of Sabah’s resources, civil service and political situation were among the factors contributing to the state’s lackluster economic performance, reducing a “once wealthy state …..to a point of no return”.
In a most telling and cutting verdict, Mustapha said Sabah was “now in the same economic league as his native Kelantan”!
Four years after Mustapha indictment of the dismal failure of the development record of Sabah, things have got worse instead of getting better – to the extent that a 11-year-old had to commit suicide to draw the attention of the authorites to the plight of the DCM poor!
The failure of the Umno’s development record to uplift the poor and backward stratas of society is all the more deplorable when contrasted with the obscene wealth accumulated by the political high-and-mighty in Sabah
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