sabah has finally come up with its own corridor called "sabah development corridor" launced by the pm a couple of days ago. i am not sure, it might be the seventh development corridor in malaysia after the first corridor introduced by tun mahathir not long ago. the sabah development corridor will focus on developing three niche areas namely manufacturing, tourism and agriculture. i dont have the copy of the blueprint for sabah's 18-year development plan though i was made to understand that it is distributed for public viewing. when attending my public administration class the other day, most of my students were missing. i was told that they were asked to attend the launching of the corridor. but few made it to the class and i didn't mince my words to ask them what they understand about the corridor. well done!...they knew the basics. but when i asked if the project is good for sabah and its people in the long run, i received mixed reactions.
let me put it this way. i think what the present government should do is to fulfill all those promises made during the past elections. in 1994, i remember, under the sabah baru concept, the government had promised among other things, to provide a roof for every sabahan and as well as to ensure zero poverty by the year 2000. now 16 years has passed, sabah, though rich in natural resources, is still among the poorest state in malaysia. and recently according to the undp report, the kadazandusun are among the poorest of malaysian ethnic minority. we want to know what has the government achieved so far in tackling the issue of poverty eradication, as well as other pressing issues as per contained in the previous election manifesto. as rakyat, we want to ensure the government has fulfilled its promises first before giving our support for another costly development project. the government must ensure this project, as one of my student put it, is not an election propaganda and certainly not, using the pm's own words, "angan-angan mat jenin".
i will support the corridor provided i am convinced that a feasibility study has been done to look into its benefits to sabah and its people. i would love to read the study and give my input in areas which i am familiar with. in the same way, the government must also educate the public on the importance of having the corridor in sabah. i hope it is not another empty promise as a means to influence the people's minds to support the government whose term of office will expire very soon.
1 comment:
if done according what had been planned, i personally think that this sabah development corridor will not only be benefit to the people of the state as it will generates a lot of jobs opportunity but this will also to ensure that the state of sabah will not be left behind in term of it's development compare to other country in malaysia. as one of the exhibitionist during the launching of the sdc (sorry for the class absent) and as im working with one of the project executor agency, i strongly believed that this project can be the quantum leap of improving income distribution and living standards in the state and especially for those living in rural areas where a project called cultivating rubber in Bengkoka Peninsular, kudat to eradicate poverty among these poorest malaysian ethnic minority finally can be realised. The bengkoka project was launched by pm in the year 2006 but the project had been started a few years back in the middle 9ties through rubber new planting scheme which is also becoming one of the blue print which saw many of them had already benefited from this project as their rubber trees now can be tapped and produced latex and as we know now days rubber were one of the most valuable and profitable commodities and i heard that these rubber tappers now can earn steady income up to RM3000 a month easily. now if we go there (Bengkoka), we can see there’s a lot of improvement in standard of living quality among these people mostly the rungus people way back before this according to the kirt (ketua isi rumah termiskin) by the kementerian pembangunan luar bandar put this residency were the poorest not only in sabah but also in Malaysia as a whole.
For more information about SDC blue print you can download here http://www.sdc.gov.my/sabahdc/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37&Itemid=25
Regards,
JERRY
2006214927
Uitm
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