PROMISES, PROMISES EVERY WHERE AND NOT A DROP IS FULFILLED

by : Brigadier General (R) Dato Muhammad Arshad.

I just do not know whether to laugh or cry when I read that PM Najib during his visit to some long houses along the Rejang river has said that the “BN is committed to improving the living standard of the rural folk in Sarawak and Sabah”. Since he was touring the longhouses along Rejang River, I presume he was making reference to the folks living in dilapidated housing conditions in that area.

Mind you, I have been to Sarawak recently and visited a longhouse in Kg. Prangkan Mawang, not very far away from Serian town(read my posting dated May 9, 2010), and to my horror, the longhouse is still without pipe water and electricity. We are already in the 20th century, and the BN has ruled this country since independence. But what I saw in Kg. Prangkan Mawang appears that Sarawak is still living in the 40’s. Fortunately, the men no longer wear the ‘cawat’, and the women folks are all dressed up. But it was a different scene altogether in Kuching town, where the home of the ministers, their families, and top government officials live in palace-like homes with exceedingly large compounds. These lots of people certainly live well ahead of the 20th century.

If PM Najib was touring the Rejang valley, let me tell you that I was there in the 70’s travelling upstream along the Rejang river from Sibu to Kapit. I lived for a year in Song, a small town just downstream from Kapit. There were several longhouses in Song that I use to frequent, and there was no pipe water and electricity then. Even in the town of Song, the power was from the generator with intermittent supply. I honestly do not know whether the longhouses in Song today have pipe water and electricity, but from my observation of Kg. Prangkan Mawang, I guess the situation in Song has not changed.

So what is PM Naib saying about improving the living standard of the rural folk in Sarawak and Sabah? Isn’t 50 years long enough for the Sarawak and Sabah governments to raise the living standards of the rural folk? Or do they need another 50 more years to realize the dreams of the children and grandchildren of the rural folks of the two states to access pipe water and electricity?

The promises and talks about improving the living standards of the rural folks and the eradication of hardcore poverty among rural Malaysians have been played over and over again, and it gets louder especially during the elections. But really, nothing substantive will occur after the elections. So what do you term such failed promises and talks? My understanding is that if you have made a promise and you do not fulfill the promise, then you are called a liar. I do not know what other better or worse superlatives to use.

CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION