Monday, January 24, 2011

DUN Layar: The promise was made 36 years ago but until now still no road

"In 1975, Jabu promised to build a road to Ulu Spak and Ulu Padeh after winning the election. The roads never came. Today, the areas have remained poor and neglected,” said Embat.
Amidst such abject poverty in Layar, there is a sparkling new RM300 million Resident’s and Distict office in the constitutency.

We ask: ""Why didn't use the RM300 million to bring development into Layar???""


Joseph Tawie | January 18, 2011 
No water, electricity, roads in Jabu’s Layar

Layar is still in the grip of abject poverty although it is under the care of its assemblyman and Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu Numpang. 

KUCHING: The Layar constituency in Betong still remains among the most neglected sites in Sarawak despite having a deputy chief minister as its assemblyman.

The majority of the longhouses in the constituency are without water, electricty and roads. 

It will take at least a three-hour to four-day walk to reach Layar.

Said Stanley Embat, a potential Sarawak PKR candidate: “Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu Numpang, who is also the State Regional Development Minister, has failed to do his duties in his constituency.”

Embat has visited 70 of the 82 longhouses in the counstituency and is appalled that despite having held the Layar constituency for 36 years, Jabu has not managed to secure “clean water supply, electricty and roads” for his people.

“I have been to 70 of these longhouses. Sometimes it took me two-and-half to three hours to walk from one longhouse to another. There is no development in the longhouses. In Betong, development is not equally distributed,” he said.

One of the worst neglected areas, Embat said, is Ulu Spak, which is a four-day walk from Betong. There are seven longhouses here.

“In 1975, Jabu promised to build a road to Ulu Spak and Ulu Padeh after winning the election. The roads never came. Today, the areas have remained poor and neglected,” said Embat.

Even longhouses which are closer to Betong also do not have water and electricity.

“The Melaban longhouse which was razed to the ground just before Gawai last year is 1.3km from the town.

The firemen had to pump water from a fish pond. In doing so, the fish were also killed,” he said.

Amidst such abject poverty, there is a sparkling new RM300 million Resident’s and Distict office in the constitutency.

“It just does not make sense. The building is beautiful but empty… very few people are working there. It was supposed to be a mini Putrajaya.

“That kind of money or a part of it could have been used to provide water, electricty and roads to the longhouses.

“The question is: what has Jabu been doing all this while?” Embat asked.


Election gimmicks


Embat said it was high time that Jabu stepped down.

“Enough is enough… the people are angry with him. It’s time he resigned,” Embat told a press conference held jointly with another potential candidate Abang Zulkifli Abang Engkeh.

Zulkifli is aiming to wrest the Saribas seat from Barisan Nasional’s Wahbi Julaihi who won with a reduced margin in the 2006 election.

Zulkifi, who welcomed the various goodies handed by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak during his recent visit, said: “We strongly recommend to the people to accept these handouts.

“After all, this is the obligation of the government of the day as the custodian of the public purse to distribute and disburse development funds fairly to the people.

“But after almost 50 years of BN rule, why is it only now the funds are generously promised.?

“Our concern is that these are mere election gimmicks. We are worried that these ad hoc expenditures are not properly thought out to benefit the people,” he said.

Zulkifli said that the BN government had failed to honour its promises made in the 2006 state election to construct a road in Kampung Supa.

The BN has also neglected Kampung Tuie and Kampung Serabang Road.

“There is no water supply to these villages and the roads are in deplorable condition. It’s a sad testimony to the long BN rule,” he said.

Also read:
* DUN Sitting (Day Five): Jabu - 4 hectres per family can lift state’s economy

8 comments:

  1. I support u Stanley, but one thing in my mind do you have a capabilti to bring all the developments in Betong? or cakap untuk pilihan raya saja.

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  2. Abg.Zul, when u talk about fair distribution and development after 50 yrs BN governed the country(state of Sarawak), have you ever think about 59 years befor, how you go to Betong Spaoh, Pusa or Debak or even to your kpg.
    Are you fairly distributed your properties to all your children? Dont talk about whatever govrment give is a gimmick pilihan raya. You cannot provide what people in Betong or spaoh want.even you r elected to be a YB. I can grauntee you cant do anything.Sedar lah sikit u...

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  3. Hello Datuk Dev.... I totally agree with you! They can do NOTHING, not even a "path" to their very own kampung!

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  4. Dulu u banyak menang di Kampung Debak... tapi mana janji u nak bangun Debak semasa kempen u dalam PR 2006 dan 2008. Mana pembaharuan u..walaupun Saribas sekarang tidak menyokong Dr Wahbi tapi mereka tetap sokong BN. Sebab itulah Saribas mahu calon BN baru untuk tidak mahu melihat peristiwa 94 berulang lagi. Mana janji nak ubah dan nak bawa pembangunan di Debak, kampung tempat tinggal pun masih ramai nak mohon bantuan kerajaan...Miri,22 Januari 2011.

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  5. HELLO Datuk dev 100% support what you mention above, Uncle Tan sri BN dah banyak berjasa dan berkorban untuk rakyat betong
    pembangkang cakap tak serupa bikin kalau hendak jadi susah jangan jadi YB,

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  6. anon 6.35....

    you mentioned about Debak..U said there are no development in Debak..Do u really open up your eyes or u just simply speak out what u want to say..I'm from Debak and as far as I can see Debak is full with new development..don't blame the govern..blame urself laaa..If not because of Jabu u will never see Debak as today...

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  7. DATUK JABU ADALAH BAPA PEMBANGUNAG BAHAGIAN BETONG.SAYA NASIHAT WARGA BETONG REBUT LAH PELUANG PEMBANGUNAN DALAM PERTANIAN DAN INDUSTRI KECILAN,JANGAN TUNGGU TENDER KERJAAN ORANG TUNGGU KONTRAK ADALAH PENDEK AKAL. USAHA ADALAH TANDA KEJAYA. YANG ORANG-ORANG PKR SIBUK SANGAT JALAN RAYA BICAK DALAM GAMBAR SEBENARNYA JALAN TERSEBUT SEDANG DALAM PROGRESS PEMBINAAN. JANGAN NAK AJAR ORANG PKR HANYA PANDAI CAKAP SAJA DAN BOLEH BUAT JANJI KOSONG YANG YANG MATI BOLEH HIDUP, PERCAYA TAK?

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  8. Betul!.. tapi hanya Betong sahaja membangun, bagaimana dgn. kpg-kpg d persisran???....

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