Bus consortium gets 100 permits approved

KUCHING: The common vision to see a fleet of brand new buses on the city’s streets is getting clearer now that the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) has approved 100 permits to a consortium, Kuching City Bus Services Sdn Bhd (KCBS), yesterday.

KCBS director of general affairs Dino Bidari said that prompt reaction from the CVLB would result in the new buses being put on the road by early next year.

“In just two days, we have already received 100 permits and our hope now is to see similar fast approval of our loans from SME Bank. If the bank works as fast as CVLB, then we can have the new 35-seater buses on the road by early next year,” he told a news conference here yesterday.
According to Dino, the consortium would inform the bank of this (permit) approval in the hope that the loan approval process would be expedited. It is understood that a 35-seater bus could easily fetch over RM200,000.

Dino also commended CVLB chairman Fadillah Yusof and his staff for a job well done, proof that it was supportive of KCBS efforts to enhance public transportation here.

Meanwhile, KCBS had submitted a transport master plan, which involves stage buses, taxis, chartered vehicles and school bus services in the city to the authority, he said.

The master plan touted the need for interchanges, three if possible, that would assist in relieving traffic congestion in the city.

Dino said that KCBS had already identified an area for the interchange - near 3rd Exchange Commercial Centre - and was still looking for two others. They had identified a tentative site in the Kubah Ria area.

“Chartered vehicles coming from the villages will off load their passengers at the interchange, before they (passengers) board another bus going to the city.”

“This (interchange) will reduce, if not eliminate, traffic congestion, and will prove convenient for passengers as there will be better frequencies given the shorter distance travelled by the buses,” he explained.

Dino said the consortium would also talk with associations of taxis, chartered vehicles and even school buses to see if the plan was feasible, and also see if there were any changes to be made to improve it.

Meanwhile, KCBS director of administration William Chan said that the master plan had been discussed with the State government, which seemed happy that the consortium was looking into restructuring the whole city transport system for the better.

However, for this to happen, everybody had a part to play, he said. Besides the interchange, KCBS was also requesting for a transport hub to integrate everything. Chan said that Kuching City North Commission (DBKU) had pointed out that the traffic flow in the city would soon change given the many on-going projects there, and that it would have to relocate the chartered vehicles waiting area.

“DBKU has not identified a place yet but we have found a suitable location to house all public transport operators, which would be similar to Kuala Lumpur Central,” he said.

However, all these would be subject to approval from the relevant authorities, and also agreement of all parties concerned, he added.

He revealed that KCBS would also be doing a market survey to identify the best mode that would take shorter time for the new buses to operate by.

The Borneo Post

Blitz on firecrackers

KUCHING: A special taskforce will soon be set up to monitor the illegal sale and letting-off of firecrackers and fireworks, said acting State Commissioner of Police SAC I Datuk Abdul Rahman Hussin. Speaking to reporters here yesterday, he assured that enforcement works would continue to ensure that regulations were strictly adhered to.

“A special order will be directed to my men to combat sales and use of firecrackers during this festive season. The existing regulations for such activities are on-going,” he said after receiving Raya goodies from the Social Development and Urbanisation Ministry’s Women Bureau at Wisma Wanita in Semariang near here.

“The people are still not allowed to play firecrackers, not even during Hari Raya Aidilfitri. For fireworks, only certain types are permitted while there are three or four kinds prohibited,” Abdul Rahman added.

Asked what fireworks were banned, Rahman said: “I need to refer to the list with images and names in my office. I cannot recall what they are right now.”

He pointed out that police would heighten patrols besides setting up taskforce in both urban and rural areas to closely monitor sale of firecrackers and letting off of fireworks.

To another question, he said the police had to work together with the Royal Customs to impose stringent checks on all entry points into the State.

“We will work with the Customs to seriously check those entry points. If there is any illegal sale, we will investigate,” he added.

The Borneo Post

Mixed Reaction To Boycott Of Pricier Goods

KUALA LUMPUR,-- There is mixed reaction to the proposal by Cuepacs and MTUC for the public to boycott pricier goods during the festive season.Taxi driver Zahren Zainal, 32, said the boycott would not benefit any party.

"Whether there is a hike or drop in prices of goods, I still have to buy them because they are essential items," he told Bernama here today.He said consumers could save cost by buying pricier goods in small quantities.

However, civil servant Norlaili Ahmad, 51, believed that the boycott could be a lesson for traders who took advantage of the festive season by indiscriminately increasing prices of goods.She said the price hikes burdened consumers, especially the low-income earners."Traders take advantage of the festive season by increasing prices due to high demand for the goods," she added.

Meanwhile, retailer Mohd Ismail Mustapa, 50, said essential items at his shop were sold at normal prices like flour at RM1.90 per kg and RM2.50 for a 1kg packet of cooking oil.He said despite some traders increasing prices, the profit margin was small because business was slow as they had to compete with the hypermarkets which offered goods at more competitive prices."Consumers are smart. They buy their essential needs at hypermarkets which offer goods at bargain price," he added.

Cuepacs and MTUC will be launching the boycott campaign at the Sungai Besi toll plaza tomorrow.Meanwhile, in KOTA KINABALU, the Consumer Association of Sabah and Labuan (Cash) is sceptical that the boycott could curb price increases of essential goods."Such campaigns had been done before, even by Cash, but they failed to meet the objective due to the lack of support from consumers themselves," said its president Datuk Patrick Sindu.

"We notice that most of the goods listed by Cuepacs and MTUC to be boycotted are food items. People consume or use the items on a daily basis. So, for how long can they boycott these essentials?"Nevertheless, we support the campaign," he added.

Sindu said a more effective method to check price hikes would be to "flood" the market with cheap imports, giving local producers and retailers stiff competition and forcing them to sell their goods at reasonable prices.

He also wants Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Mohd Shafie Apdal to be tougher in dealing with the price hikes which were burdening consumers."Don't have to come up with statements like `the government will not hesitate to import food if producers and retailers refuse to cooperate'. Just do it."This will teach them to be more socially responsible and ethical," he said.

-- BERNAMA

Malaysia 44 or 50?

Come Aug 31 our beloved nation will celebrate her 50th birthday, as designated by the federal government. But until today certain quarters are still fervently debating the age of our country. EVERY year as we celebrate National Day on Aug 31, the debate on the actual age of our nation surfaces and it seems to rage with greater intensity than ever.

The federal government designated this year’s National Day celebration as the 50th nniversary of our independence based on Aug 31, 1957 when Malaya gained independence. However, for certain quarters in Sarawak and Sabah, it is inconceivable that Malaysia could be 50 years old this year as the formation of our nation took place on Sept 16, 1963.

The real bone of contention in this argument over the age of Malaysia is the question of whether Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore joined the Federation of Malaya or formed Malaysia, a new nation, with Malaya on Sept 16, 1963. Those who advocate that Malaysia as a nation was actually born on Aug 31, 1957 cited the formation and expansion of the United States of America as a parallel to the formation of Federation of Malaya and its subsequent expansion when Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore joined the federation on Sept 16, 1963.

This is a classic case of comparing an orange with an apple because USA was formed by 13 former colonies of the British Empire on July 5, 1776 after a bloody war of independence and remained as the United States of America despite its expansion through the addition of other states to its federation.

This is not the case with the Federation of Malaya or Malaya as it ceased to exist as a nation when it joined Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore to form Malaysia on Sept 16, 1963. It must be noted that Malaysia was formed through an equal partnership between Federation of Malaya, Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore (which withdrew from Malaysia after two years) it was never a formation of the sovereign nation of Malaya and the three states.

Bearing testimony to this partnership is Sarawak’s autonomous authority on land and immigration as part of the list of special rights of the State would retain in the Federation of Malaysia. An even more ludicrous argument put forward was the claim that Malaysia is actually the alternative name for Malaya citing references of the region around the Malay Peninsular as Malaysia by British Colonial writers in the 1800s and that the concept of the Federation of Malaya when it gained independence was not confined to the Malayan mainland but also the Malaysian regions still under British rule then.

The flaw in this argument is firstly the confusion of Malaysia as a reference to a geographical region with Malaysia as a nation which came into being only Sept 16, 1963. As for the claim that the Federation of Malaya was formed with the plan of including Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore, there is no documentary proof and even if there was it had nothing to do with the three states as they never planned to join the federation.

During the formation of Malaysia, there was never any mention of the three states joining the Federation of Malaya in any of the historical documents signed by all parties. To put to an end this polemic on the actual age of our nation and how it was formed thesundaypost traces the birth of Malaysia through the documents pertaining to its formation signed by all parties and interviewed Datuk Amar James Wong, the only surviving member of the Sarawak delegation of the Malaysia Solidarity Consultative Committee which paved the way for the birth of our nation.

The Malaysian nation was the brainchild of Tunku Abdul Rahman when he was the Prime Minister of the Federation of Malaya. On May 27, 1961 he brought up the subject at a luncheon meeting of Foreign Correspondents Association of South East Asia in Singapore Adelphi Hotel saying “Malaya today as a nation realises that she cannot stand alone and in isolation. Sooner or later she should have an understanding with Britain and the peoples of the territories of Singapore, North Borneo, Brunei and Sarawak.”

That speech set into motion a rapid succession of events that culminated with the birth of Malaysia on Sept 16, 1963. The book ‘Formation of Malaysia’ published by the Federal Information Department soon after Malaysia was formed stated in the last paragraph of the section Milestones to Malaysia, ‘So in less than 28 months from the time he put forward his proposal, Tunku Abdul Rahman’s Malaysia plan is realised, uniting 10,000,000 diverse peoples — Malays, Ibans, Land Dayaks, Melanaus, Dusuns and Kadazans, Muruts and Bajaus, Chinese and Indians — in a new nation dedicated to justice, peace and prosperity, in pursuit of freedom and happiness for all.’

In his report for the Commission of Enquiry to visit Sarawak and Sabah and setting out Terms of Reference for the formation of Malaysia Lord Cobbold stated in article 10 of his findings that the name of the Federation shall be Malaysia.

No one is in a better position to talk about the formation of Malaysia from the Sarawak perspective than Datuk Amar James Wong, the former Deputy Chief Minister of the State. When thesundaypost interviewed him at his office, Wong was adamant that Malaysia is 44 years old as he involved personally in the negotiations and consultations leading to the birth of Malaysia.

“I remember Sept 16, 1963 very well. I was in Kuala Lumpur when the agreement on the formation of Malaysia was signed. After the signing I flew straight to New York with Rajaratnam, one of the Singapore representatives, to attend the 18th session of the United Nations as representative of Malaysia.’

Referring himself jokingly as ‘the last of the Mohicans’ Wong said he is the only surviving member of the Sarawak delegation to the Malaysia Solidarity Consultative Committee.

“I was directly involved in the negotiations on the rights of the State and you can quote me in stating that we never joined Malaysia, we formed Malaysia.”

Wong who wrote several books on diverse subjects also published a book ‘The Birth of Malaysia’ in 1993 in which he reprinted historical documents pertaining to the formation of Malaysia.

In the first two paragraphs of his introduction he wrote: “Our 30th year of Independence within Malaysia would be a fitting time and occasion to remind all Sarawakians of our great heritage and as to why and how Malaysia came about.

“This is particularly true of the younger generation, especially those in their mid-forties and below, who were then too young when Malaysia was formed, to grasp and understand the implications. But what all Malaysians in Sarawak must know and understand is that — We did not enter Malaysia, but we formed Malaysia together with North Borneo, (now Sabah) Singapore and Malaya.”

Anyone wishing to find out more about the positions of Sarawak and Sabah within the federation should read this book as it contains reprinted historical documents and reports and a chronology of events that led to the formation of Malaysia.

There should never have been any debate on the age of Malaysia as there are ample irrefutable documents that prove that the birth of our nation is Sept 16, 1963. While Sarawakians and Sabahans rejoice with our fellow citizens in Semenanjung Malaysia in celebrating the Federation of Malaya’s 50th anniversary of independence from British rule, we cannot distort history by confusing it with the birth of Malaysia.

There is more at stake than the quibble over the dates of the birth of our nation for Sarawakians and Sabahans as accepting Sept 16, 1963 as the birthday of Malaysia means the two states formed Malaysia as equal partners with the Federation of Malaya while accepting Aug 31, 1957 implies we joined the Federation of Malaya.

The latter date could mean the rights of the State were temporary conditions granted by the Federation of Malaya while recognising Sept 16, 1963 clearly states that the two states joined as equal partners in the formation of Malaysia and their special rights are entrenched in the agreement on her formation.

Happy Birthday Malaysia, but is it 44 or 50?

The Borneo Post