Where have all the Power Gone?

I'm completely sickened by the never ending woes of power shortages and disruptions in the states. It's a sin if it happens in the semenanjung west Malaysia but not here in the state of Sabah, the eastern state of Malaysia.

In Semenanjung, Tun M is now asking ‘where have all the petrol money gone?’ Here in Sabah, we have to ask 'Where have all the power gone'?.

I'm referring to the power cut or shortage that has been a regular phenomenon in the state since the Independence Day 46 years ago. The power disruption is frequent especially after the east-west grid connection system is in full operation.

Sabah Electricity Sdn. Bhd. (SESB), a subsidiary of TNB, only realise that they have not got enough power to feed all the users throughout Sabah.

Their Chairman, Tan Sri Leo Moggi, has been pressing for the coal-fired power plants for years but was not accepted by the locals Malaysian in Sabah. The fear of pollution and contamination due to the burning of coal has been the main reason for rejecting the proposal. I suppose this had caused delay in the development of electricity generation in the state to some extent. Tan Sri Leo Moggie had in some occasions openly said bluntly and insinuated that without the endorsement from the locals on the coal-burning power plants, Sabah was going to head for more hardships.

He was right but Sabahan shouln't be blamed for the delay in power plant construction. They’d proposed a power plant that Sabahan couldn't accept in the first place.

Now it looks like we are in the critical state of power rationing state where power distribution to users will be shared, and the distribution will be very much up to the discretion of the power controller.

Many Hospitals especially in Sandakan had been hit by the sudden disruptions, and has been a popular subject of criticisms. This subject will be as serious and critical as the Queen Elizabeth Hospital one.


Is this the situation we wanted to see in the first place? We are different to the states in Semenanjung where our future lies with eco-tourism and environmental protection. Therefore, the importance, and emphasis, on conservation and ecological protection are the main focuses of the state, and that we are not going to be compromise at all.

Sabah can only adopt the sustainable energy sources as a form of safer energy to drive the country ahead. We are talking about the solar, wind, water power sources rather than those based on the fossil fuels, namely oil, natural gas, nuclear etc.

Even now using the fossil fuels like the diesel, natural gas, the power generation can not solved our woes either, as there have always been the technical problems in the electrical company that they could never generate enough power for us. Why? No body seems to know. Fingers are pointing every where and no one knows what really went wrong as far as the electrical power supply in Sabah is concerned.

Initially, they blamed the transmission network, then the control network, now the power generation network, what's next?

There are some quarters suggesting replacing SESB or creating another competitor instead.

SESB doesn't perform and definitely not professional enough to deal with the power demands in the state. The lack of anticipation of problems and solution is particularly interested where we seemed to have chasing our tails all the time. In fact, this is a common phenomenon amongst all the government departments where they wait for thing to happen and then act on it, if they ever act on it, else, they will simply ignore it as if nothing happens.

The government shouldn't give lame excuse of fund shortage as Tun Mahatir just said that Petronas had paid 253.6 Billion Ringgit to Federal government for the period between the years 2003 to 2009; surely some of the money can be channeled to Sabah for the electrification projects.

Isn't this another 'People First, Performance Now!' awaiting BN to achieve?