Entries Tagged 'My Country' ↓

Fly the Jalur Gemilang. Our country is exactly fifty-one years old coming August 31, 2008! Though I celebrate August 31 as the National Day but deep down in my heart I only recognize September 16 as the real Malaysia Day. For September 16 is the day the Federation of Malaysia was formed. I will cling to this for the rest of my life.

The Government has just tabled Budget 2009. On the Budget, it is essentially an expansionary budget, a deficit budget to ease the burden of the people, hence themed “A Caring Government”. I don’t see the Government doing well enough to push the limit of better efficiency and governance, let alone addressing unwise spending (ie. closed tender, corruption).

I had a brief look at the budget, all I see is increasing excise duty specific on cigarettes, increasing the eligibility criteria for welfare assistance, benefiting government pensioners, channelling financial assistance to victims of calamities, increasing current tax rebate, and so to name. The Government also plans to reduce import duties on various consumer durables and road tax on private passenger vehicles with diesel engines. Full import duty exemption will be exercised on several food item.

My mum used to tell me that no matter how high the mountain is, if you keep blasting it for granite (money), it will diminish one day.

It’s more of expanding the budget to help the poor, needy, lower class and lower middle class citizens. Lot’s of spending are spent on these group. I know it’s important to address their grouses and to improve their lives but heck, the government is not even talking how are they going to generate income for all these expenditures. Don’t tell us that you are going to suck in money from our Petronas. Though I am not an economist, I know such shouldn’t be the long term plan.

I see vast potential in Sabah and Sarawak. An allocation of RM3bil and RM3.3bil is provided for Sabah and Sarawak respectively to implement various projects. This is supposed to be goodies for the two BN strong backbones. But I am also interested to know if the fate of Sabah and Sarawak will be the same as Penang should some of the Member of Parliaments decided to cross over. We never know?!

On construction and agricultural, a sum of RM35bil will be expended during the period 2009 to 2014 to improve public transportation while RM5.6bil will be allocated as incentives to agriculture entrepreneurs to reduce production costs and encourage higher agriculture output.

On education, RM160mil will be allocated to provide better education opportunities as well as improve health and basic amenities for the Orang Asli. These are the groups which really need better access to facilities!

You know what? I have been thinking that I should really go back to my own state after graduating. I want to bring home what I learned in West Malaysia. This is really a road not many people choose to take, most Sarawakians after completing their studies in the West prefers to settle down there. I beg to differ from the thoughts that Sarawak has no opportunity. It has, just that we have to discover the opportunities there.

Seriously, I still think the Government is not addressing the construction industry which was robust back then. Civil engineers are having bad time lah…

To all fellow Malaysians, I would like to wish all of you Selamat Hari Merdeka!

I would like to modify a quote from Mohandas Gandhi, “I like Malaysia, I do not like our politicans. Our politicians are so unlike Malaysians.” Dear MPs, please be reminded that we voted you because we trust you to run the country and not to give you the power to rule over us. You must remember that you are a nobody if not for us, you are somebody because of us.

Selamat Hari Merdeka and Awal Ramadhan!

“When I seat myself on the mat, one by one they come forward, and tie little bells on my arm; a young cocoa-nut is brought, into which I am requested to spit. The white fowl is presented. I rise and wave it, and say ‘May good luck attend the Dyaks; may their crops be plentiful; may their fruits ripen in due season; may male children be born; may rice be stored in their houses; may wild hogs be killed in the jungle; may they have Sijok Dingin or cold weather.’ The people, both men and women, ‘take my hand, [and] stroke their own faces’. After this, they wash my hands and my feet, and afterwards with the water sprinkle their houses and gardens. Then the gold dust, with the white cloth which accompanies it, both of which have been presented by me, is placed in the field.”
James Brooke (1845)

The title Brooke ‘returns’ to Sarawak reported in TheStar caught my attention this morning.

Kuching: Jason Brooke has always been fascinated by Sarawak, having grown up hearing stories about the place from his father and grandfather. Now, the great-great-grandson of Sarawak’s second White Rajah, Charles Brooke, is here to see the place for himself. At 23, he is the youngest Brooke descendant to visit Sarawak since the state gained independence. (Source: TheStar)

I have always wanted to express my thoughts on Sarawak. Now’s the good time to spend some time in front of my laptop to write out my thoughts. Sarawak is in many ways special.

“The White Rajahs refer to a dynasty that founded and ruled the Kingdom of Sarawak from 1841 to 1946, namely the Brookes, who came originally from England,” quoted from Wikipedia.

Sarawak was part of the realm of Brunei until James Brooke, who was to become the first White Rajah, received a sizable chunk of land from the Bruneian Sultan. Throughout the rule of the first two Brookes, Sarawak’s size increased tremendously as more territory was leased or annexed from Brunei. There were three White Rajahs:

James Brooke (1841–1868)
Charles Anthony Johnson Brooke (1868–1917)
Charles Vyner Brooke (1917–1946)

The flag of Kingdom of Sarawak and the current Sarawak.

The period of Brooke rule is generally looked upon favourably in Sarawak, although successive post-federation Malaysian governments have attempted to downplay and to a certain extent, denounce the Brooke Raj. Despite this we Sarawakians never fail to appreciate our very own and unique history. Though I was not born in the White Rajah’s Dynasty, but the legacy of the dynasty will always be here, in the hearts of many Sarawakians. Though the Federation of Malaysia may have not given us the very RIGHT share despite our economic contribution to the country in terms of natural resources, we still stand strong!

The architectural legacy of the dynasty can be seen in many of the country’s nineteenth century and colonial heritage buildings. In Kuching these include the Astana, or governor’s residence, the Old Sarawak Museum, Fort Margherita, the Square Fort, the Old Courthouse and Brooke Memorial.

Sarawakians will always stand strong, it is not that I am playing the sentiment card but at times like this we really must appreciate our own unique history. We are who we are. Knowing who we are makes us love our State as well as our country. Remember this, the National Day of Malaysia should be September 16 and not August 31! This was the day that the Federation of Malaysia was formed.

West Malaysians, you can start throwing your rotten eggs or tomatoes at me. I stand for what I believe in, history has it that Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore joined Malaya to form the Federation of Malaysia in September 16, 1963. Malaysia as a unified state did not exist until 1963 (Source: Wikipedia).

Here’s a good read for those who are interested to know more about the Rajahs of Sarawak.

Wikipedia: White Rajahs
Wikipedia: Kingdom of Sarawak
White Rajahs of Sarawak
Rajahs of Sarawak
Jane Austen and the Rajah of Sarawak
Britons in South-East Asia

Behold Sarawakians, your lovely State is planning to build more and more dams. Damned! The beautiful name Land of Hornbills may as well be replaced with the name Land of Dams!!

In the name of development, particularly aluminium-smelting industry, the clever State government is considering and planning to build more damns! The more damns they built, more soils will be destroyed, lush green forests which is supposed to be the LUNG for Sarawak will be cut, the natives being driven out from their homeland, and most of all someone’s pocket is getting bigger.

Continue reading →

RM436.1 million has been allocated to build places of worship. Now that’s good news made known to the public by one of our deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.

Apparently, it only appears that fools would be tricked by this figures. I made a little effort to interpret that RM436.1million figure for you. I am sure most of you know what a ‘pie chart’ is, hence I shall present those figures in the form of a pie chart.

Here you go, 98% of the allocation goes to building mosques and suraus while the other 2% goes to building kuils, temples and churches. Have you not figured out something is not right and not balance here? Look at the proportion of the allocation and compare it with what you know about the background of the Malaysian society. While you are still figuring it out, why not continue reading…

According to the 2000 census and CIA, approximately 60.4 percent of the population of Malaysia are followers of Islam; 19.2 percent Buddhism; 9.1 percent Christianity; 6.3 percent Hinduism; and 3 percent Confucianism, Taoism, and other traditional Chinese religions. (Source: Wikipedia)

Let us assume that the 60.4% of the population are followers of Islam and 39.6% of the population are followers of other faith is still applicable today (population doesn’t surge like the recent fuel hike). Shouldn’t the allocation of fund for building places of worship follow the 60:40 ratio?

It’s either the cost incurred to build mosques and suraus are higher or to say kuils, temples and churches are built with inferior cost and quality. I’ve never visited a mosque so I can’t actually tell what’s inside, but certainly the construction materials used are delicately beautiful.

Or perhaps less Christians are church-goers, less Buddhists go to temples, less Hindus go to kuils but on the contrary there has been growth in the Muslim community which explains the huge amount of money allocated to build mosques and suraus.

Parliament: RM428m to build mosques

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government has allocated a total of RM428mil to build mosques and suraus, and RM8.1mil (or RM8.69mil???) to build churches, kuils and temples, said Datuk Mohd Johari Baharom, deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in his written reply to Nga Kor Ming (DAP - Taiping).

The Government spent RM3.93mil for kuils, RM3.16mil for temples and RM1.6mil for churches.

Such allocations for the years 2009 and 2010 would be determined by the Government later, he said.

Since 1991, he said the Prime Minister had allocated RM1mil for the physical development of churches and temples and RM1mil for kuils starting from the year 2000.

A co-ordinating unit under the Prime Minister’s Department would approve the applications for non-Muslim projects, he explained.

(Source: The Star)

I leave it to you to express your views. I have expressed mine and would like to know what do you think of such allocation. Peace.