Sabah Must Tell TNB What Sabah Really Wanted

I read with doubts on the sincerity of Leo Moggie on the coal-fired power plant issue which had been plaguing Sabah over the last 2 years.

To build or not to build (a coal-fired power plant), that’s the question.

TNB should have had a master plan for Sabah’s electricity needs, for now and the foreseeable future. But, I simply doubt it. Even if the plan ever existed, I wonder if this master plan had ever been a result of consultation with the local Malaysian in Sabah in the first place. Judging from the rare protests on the issue, from east to west coast, it shows that Malaysian in Sabah had ‘never’ been properly consulted on the issue of electricity needs nor the real situations discussed.

TNB is simply ‘arrogant’ in its handling of the issue by repeatedly ‘threatening’ Malaysian in Sabah that if coal-fired power plant is not built now, crisis will be escalated to the point of more hardships for Malaysian in Sabah. The arrogance could be tolerated if they have been doing their part well. The frequent power cut throughout the state, especially in the east coast, is a norm of the day.

Malaysian in Sabah is no doubt can not afford to wait too long for the greener electricity to be delivered, however, it shouldn’t be difficult for TNB to decide on using gas or hydro as the main source for the power generation.

However, TNB may have other difficulties which may be confidential to be openly discussed.

Malaysian in Sabah wants the electricity badly while maintaining the environment ‘untouched’. We want green and sustainable energy sources. Environment is our top priority. Conserving the environment is important and critical to our survival.

TNB should listen to the local people for the way they want for their electricity supply, and not spending time to argue and quarrel with the consumers on how they generate the energy using coal. The local people have the right to determine how their electricity comes from.

Malaysian in Sabah should have the final say in what type of energy and the subsequent environment they should be getting; situation is like those insisting on genuinely ‘Organic’ label in the organic food arena where the end product must meet certain stringent rules of the organic food industries.

TNB should consider returning SESB back to the state government if they can not comply with the people wishes – that is adopting green energy sources.

It’s also high time that the state government review its relationship with the federal government on the energy issue by perhaps setting up a committee overseeing the entire needs of energy sources in the state so as to avoid similar dilemma ever happened again.

Isn’t it having a special committee monitoring the performance of our federal counterparts as part of the implementation of KPI (Key Performance Index)?