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JOAS condemns arrest of Committee Member, reiterates call for moratorium on development projects

JOAS condemns arrest of Committee Member, reiterates call for moratorium on development projects
13 August 2009

JOAS condemns the arrest of Matek anak Geram early this morning by the police for the crime of allegedly restraining the workers of an oil palm plantation. He was taken into custody by ten fully-armed police personnel at 8.45am and detained for two hours at the Mukah Police Station and charged for allegedly wrongfully restraining the workers of an oil palm plantation company, Saradu Plantations Sdn Bhd. under section 341 of the Penal Code before being released on bail.

Matek, an Iban farmer, a member of TAHABAS (Sarawak Native Customary Rights Network) and Committee Member of JOAS was unarmed when he was arrested by the fully-armed police. For over a year, Matek and his immediate family have been guarding their property against Saradu Plantations who have been encroaching on their native lands. In individual shifts, they have blocked an access road built on their land. JOAS questions the heavy use of force and intimidation against one unarmed man and calls for neutrality of the state infrastructure in this legal dispute between the private company and indigenous peoples.
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SESB’s madness in Sandakan

Letter
By Saves DK

SESB’s irregular blackouts in Sandakan is appalling and causing a lot of disruptions to our daily lives.

If SESB really ‘CARE’ about Sandakan folks and are considerate, they would have tried to minimize the disruptions by at least:

  1. publish accurate advanced notice of blackout times and areas in the local newspapers, as they used to do before they were pushing for the proposed coal power plant;

  2. STICK TO their advanced notice (if published);

  3. have NO blackout in business areas during day time/business hours, and NO blackout in residential areas during evening and night;

  4. have a fair blackout schedule for the WHOLE of Sabah, not let it happen to only Sandakan/Tawau/East Coast.

Many have observed that for the first 2 weeks of August, there was NO blackout in many areas in Kota Kinabalu/West Coast at all, but by contrast, there were DAILY blackouts almost everywhere in the East Coast. WHY is that so?! (If the malfunctioning power plant is located in the West Coast, this would be even more puzzling.)
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Police and MACC should commence immediate investigations into Tiong King Sing’s allegations against Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat, particularly over the former’s RM10 million donation to Ong last year for MCA divisions

At 1.40 pm at the SS2 Police Station, Petaling Jaya, I lodged the following report against the MCA President and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and the Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd (KDSB) CEO and MP for Bintulu, Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing asking for police to commence immediate investigations into Tiong allegations against Ong, particularly over Tiong’s RM10 million donation to Ong last year for MCA divisions.

My police report, SEA PARK/006222/09 reads:

“This is to lodge a police report on what appeared in all the media today, including New Straits Times, Star, the Sun, Sin Chew Daily, Nanyang Siang Pau, China Press, Guang Ming, Kwong Wah Yit Poh and Oriental Daily,Berita Harian, as well as electronic media like Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider viz:

  1. Statement by the chief executive of Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd and MP for Bintulu, Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing that he donated RM10 million to Transport Minister and MCA President, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat last year;

  2. Statement by the deputy CEO of Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd Datuk Faizal Abdullah that Ong had used the company’s jet five times incurring US$40,000 for the services; and

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The art of Managing a Crisis…do we want one?

By Hussein Hamid

Me thinks something is stirring in the Pakatan Rakyat and UMNO camps. The winds of change seems to blow ever so slowly. Diversions are being thrown around here and there by Pakatan Rakyat. The issue of selling beers in Selangor seem to take a life of its own unencumbered by thoughts of Pakatan unity. There is the ‘life and death struggle’ of Pakatan Rakyat in Selangor and the internal ‘bickering’ between PAS and DAP. For Barisan they want Selangor back and the word is out that they are confident enough to look at holding elections in Perak…it all points to the classic diversionary tactics of ‘creating a crisis’ – but by whom? Barisan or Pakatan?

What is self-evident now is that there is a growing momentum towards creating a Malaysia the people are unfamiliar with. The dismantling of the great racial divide, the real possibility of Pakatan Rakyat emerging as the next Government after the General Elections (at worse an effective opposition) and the potential demise of UMNO and the Barisan Coalition it leads as the Party in power.

Concurrently as part and parcel of this progression there is an increasing demand by the people for transparency and openness in Government – akin to Putri Gunung Ledang agreeing to marry the Sultan if given:
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