My speech on the appreciation motion on the speech of TYT

Tuan Speaker, I rise to speak in the appreciation motion on the speech of his Excellency Tuan Yang Terutama Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak.

I am here, grateful to the rakyat in Miri that has elected me here to voice their concerns in this august house.

There are many issues at hand but I will presently limit them to four due to the brief allocated time for us: unemployment, homelessness, NCR land and infrastructure.

1. High Unemployment rate in Miri
For a person to work is very important as the income that is earned is used to support the family. Much more so is the need for more income as the cost of living keeps going up, but the economy in Miri or elsewhere in Sarawak is going down. At the same time, inflation is going up. Even drinking a cup of coffee is now RM2.00! A plate of chicken rice is more than RM4.00. We have to pay more than RM6.00 to have just only a lunch. There are still many workers who can only earn RM20 a day. This is just enough for them to pay for 3 meals in a day. How are they going to survive in this modern society?

It is unfortunate that since the Shell supply base in Miri was moved to Labuan in the 90s, jobs are becoming less, and the economy is in a downturn since then in Miri. Many youths, particularly recent graduates are looking for jobs elsewhere instead of their hometown Miri or Sarawak. Jobs have also become very limited for the local folks in Shell and Petronas nowadays.

Moreover, business opportunities have also become less, since contracts offered by Petronas that are awarded to the local companies are becoming very scarce and limited nowadays. Many local companies find it very hard to get contracts from Petronas. Most, if not all of the contracts go to non-Sarawak-based companies and most of these companies are from peninsula Malaysia. Subsequently, many of these contracts are sub-contracted to local companies, sometimes only enabling them to merely make a small profit because of the less fee payment that is made to them by the Petronas-approved contractors.

Sub-contractors face all sorts of problems in such a process: some have made heavy losses as they have purchased at a heavy cost materials and paid workers for works in the oil industry. Yet, the main contractors either paid late or in some cases did not pay at all, as they could attempt to avoid paying anything. Other contractors have even closed down their businesses, thus leaving the local sub-contractors financially unstable.

The natural resources in Sarawak should be managed by us Sarawakians. We Sarawakians must be the main players in the oil and gas industry as the oil is derived from our beloved Sarawak. There must be more of us Sarawakians in the management of Petronas in Sarawak and most main contractors must be Sarawakians.

In correlation, more jobs for us Mirians as well as all Sarawakians will also mean a better economy for Sarawak. As a result, there would be less crime in Miri and elsewhere in Sarawak.

2. Homelessness
Many people from the less fortunate lower strata of society are homeless in Miri as they cannot afford the high cost of purchasing houses.

Because of few job opportunities in rural areas, many rural folks from long house Ulu areas come all the way down to Miri to earn their living. Urbanization leads to higher cost of houses and low income earners cannot afford these houses. Many of them with dependant families come to the urban areas with little skills and can only earn low wages. So many of them have earnings that is only sufficient to feed their families but not enough to pay for rent, what more to say to buy a house. Thus, squatter settlements are springing up in Miri and elsewhere!

The state government should build cheap affordable low cost housing for these people in Miri and the price should not exceed RM40,000 that was offered by a certain construction company sometime ago in comparison to today’s cost of over RM100,000 per house. Of course, at the same time, the housing loan has to be provided. If the poor still cannot afford to buy houses then these low cost houses also can be rented out with low rental rates like RM100 or RM200 to them. Free shelter should be provided for the neglected, old, sick and jobless people.

Lots, that is, pieces of land, with minimum premium charges, could also be provided for those who prefer to build their own houses.

If the government cannot reallocate the squatters in Miri right now, the immediate need is to provide better infrastructure for these settlements. There should be good roads, basic amenities like a proper water system, proper sanitation and electricity.

3. NCR Land
Land titles without any conditions should be given out for NCR land. With these land titles, the land could be used by the Dayak or Orang Ulu for various commercial enterprises and businesses, and they in turn can be provided with more infrastructural development by the government. With the development of these lands for businesses, there would be jobs and employment. Problems associated with urbanization such as squatter settlements, crime and poverty would be eradicated to a certain extent as rural migration to urban areas will be less.

If the tittles of NCR land can be given to the Dayak, the land will also permit better development for commercial purposes. This also means there will more Dayak entrepreneurs. Business will be booming not only in rural areas but also in town areas. The economy of the whole of Sarawak will certainly be up by many notches. As a result, all of us Sarawakians will also benefit from this progress.

4. Better infrastructure
As our Sarawak is very rich in resources, it is very shameful that till today we still don’t have much basic development in many areas.

Many Ulu Sarawakians live in very tough miserable conditions. There is a need for basic amenities like electricity, gas and piped fresh water in many longhouses and rural homes.

There is also a need for proper communication such as telecommunication and well-constructed road links.

In many areas, the badly hastily developed timber routes to the long houses in Ulu areas need to be replaced with proper roads.

In our Miri division, one often says, “From a young age to an old age now, I am still waiting to see the materialization of a safe proper road linking Marudi to Miri nearby”. Indeed, too many lives have been lost due to accidents and delayed medical treatment caused by the present poor dangerous Marudi road system.

Similarly, the important 30 year-old 36 km-Lapok Road urgently needs to be properly constructed and completed as soon as possible.

Another required development is our Miri Pujut 7 bridge and Road project, Padang Kerbau by-pass,Tudan Road. Action must be taken immediately as the congestion in this area has caused so much inconvenience to the public and resulted in much unhappiness with the unconcerned BN government.

Tuan Speaker, these four issues of unemployment, homelessness, NCR land and infrastructure are a few of the many issues and problems that need to be tackled quickly in Miri, as well as Sarawak.

To conclude, it is my hope that we can selflessly serve the needs of our many fellow Sarawakians, especially those who are less fortunate in society.

Let us not think of benefitting ourselves in any way, selfishly looking after our own needs above the many needs of our rakyat.

With competency, accountability and transparency, by planning and financially allocating the relevant funds to projects that will benefit everyone everywhere here in Sarawak, we will have a better state and a state that will be seen as the best place to live and work in Malaysia harmoniously.

I would pray that our TYT will continue to be blessed with health, Sarawak continue to be blessed with wealth, and the people of Sarawak continue to be healthy and wealthy. We will always honor the TYT as the head of Sarawak.