Is this the positive way to resolve the implementation woes?

Yes, it's a very encouraging sign that the state government engages with the federal ministry, in this case, the Prime Minister ministry, on the various problems in the implementation of federal-funded projects in Sabah.

Rather than leaving it to take its natural cause; the state government led by Datuk Musa had taken the initiative aggressively to arrange a dialogue with the man-in-charge, the formally Second Finance Minister himself and now the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department , Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, to iron out all the woes, problems, and other related issues in Sabah, hopefully all at once, at the Le Meridien hotel here on January 16, 2010.

It's frequently known that federal fund had not been used up by year end in Sabah due to 'technical' problems, and the most heard of is the last-minute allocation of fund to Sabah that is impossible to implement in time for the account closing, or, fund allocated in the beginning of the year but was not able to use it because of 'difficulties' in getting the tender awarded.

Most of the problems lies with too much politicking involved in 'lobbying' for the project through the various politicians who have been eying the fund for their supporters.

The end results of the projects are meant for the benefits of the people, the sooner that it implemented, the better for the economy and the territory. Therefore, any attempts by these politicians to cause delay in the commencement of projects due to the 'fighting' should be condemned and if necessary, MACC should be called-in to investigate if it becomes rampant and unacceptable.

It's the duty of the government to monitor their respective political workers or leaders to refrain from hurting the interests of the people as they and their family too are from the people.

They are supposed to help the people, and not helping themselves. Their negative actions shall undermine the public confidence in the government if people's needs are not fulfilled in time.

On this part, I think federal government should strengthening their officers with high morality, discipline, and integrity through the BTN (Biro Tata Negera) training sessions while politicians must be instilled with patriotism and professionalism, if we want to see things improved.

It's fine with direct negotiated so-called 'special tender' or 'urgent case tender', and that political-link contractors are engaged to do these 'special' projects provided their tender is negotiated on the basis of competitiveness, and competency on reputable in delivery with quality. It should, however, keep the award of this type to the minimal to avoid allegation of abuse of fund and bad planning. The direct negotiated award should be used for cases which are related to say, natural disasters, and unforeseen circumstances and needs such as Queen Elizabeth Hospital case in Sabah.

The government should never award any 'special tenders or projects' to the so-called 'ali baba' companies as the action is not fair to those genuinely in the trade, and will cause long-term detrimental damages to the industry, and the economy as a whole.

It's all because of bad precedent set in the country of giving project directly without going through appropriate tendering procedure and merit that had misled most politicians of wrongly believe in the miracle of getting something out of 'nothing'.

This, together with the close monitoring and follow-up on the projects to be implemented in Sabah, the state government ought to be working extra hard making sure that acquisition of lands are not a hindrance in the project implementation process as there have been cited quite frequently that projects partially finished, or delayed, due to some disputes in the land matter.

However, Datuk Musa specifically singled out the bureaucracy in these government ministries, namely: Health, Education, and Public Works, that have been the causes of our woes in Sabah. I hope that the various Ministers should work harder with their respective Secretary Generals on removing these obstacles, and emphasising the importance of streamlining the process so that Sabah, a far away poor state, could progress well and subsequently remain a sustainable fixed deposit for BN in times to come.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital Needs Immediate Attention From PM

http://www.asiatimes.com.my/news.php?newsid=25032

The above news report published in Asia Times Sabah today referred.

First of all, I must admit that what this man (Mr. Ng or Huang in Mandarin) said is whole true, nothing, but the truth.

He's been 'working' in the hospital Queen Elizabeth for very long time, and he's more than qualified to speak up and tells all about the situation of the hospital since the main tower block of the hospital declared unsafe.

There is indeed a need of urgency from our beloved YB Liow or PM Najib to act as quickly as possible. We need the facility as early as twenty years ago. Some said that we'd have got all the required medical facilities if there had no PBS pulling out of BN fold twenty years ago. Sabahan was blamed for immature politically as well as paying dearly for its YBs over the years for their own negligence and ignorance (performance) in politic and administration.

The federal must have their own dilemma of not able to immediately completed the acquisition of the Sabah Medical Centre (SMC), and I suspect that CM Musa must have got high level information of impending delay that a so-called 'short term' solution be invoked, and hopefully, the 'Khidmat Hospital' will be in place by next July.

Most of the people I talked to regarding the suitability of location of present Khidmat site to be used as hospital; most were acknowledged as inappropriate, and in fact, some suggested it be turned to a hotel instead.

The Khidmat Hospital would never be required if the sales & purchase agreement for the SMC deal was completed immediately after PM Najib’s announcement on 5 May, 2009.

The completion of the purchase is critical in the chain of resolving the QEH case that there would have started the renovation works in SMC which should provide 200 beds in one year time. The benefits are not only we could relieve the congestion problems at present QEH but also be able to demolish the unsafe tower block and commences work on the Twin Tower, as well as able to attracting more doctors to work in QEH.

Therefore, PM Najib should immediately complete the acquisition without further delay under humanitarian and ‘emergency” consideration. Sabah people will surely appreciate his excellent leadership and helps for many years to come.

MATZU, CHONG, & MUSA

No one should underestimate the feelings of the Matzu devotees on the on-going tussles between Chong Kah Kiat and Musa Aman.

Based on information extracted and interpreted from news published in local newspapers, it looks like a case of abuse of power, or negligence, or incompetence on the part of the State Government. It’s because the permit to build the statue was granted by the authority in the first place and, also from the same authority that the project was abruptly stopped with a strange circumstances and unconvincing explanation. The project was asked to stop when it was almost near its completion - with only the granite stone statue yet to be assembled and erected in place.

It was also disclosed by Chong earlier that it all started with his crash with Musa, the CM and Finance Minister back in 2007, over the Sipadan Island redevelopment where a certain project was awarded to someone known to CM without going through his ministry; and it’s only become known to public when the contractor, due to inexperience in handling eco-tourism works, bluntly caused an international rouse that saw damages to coral and marine life nakedly shown in the internet which had caused embarrassment to the country, and especially to Prime Minister Datuk Ahmad Badawi. Chong refused to bear the blunt for something not committed by himself.

Musa had not been getting the Matzu case off his shoulder ever since, and it looks like Chong has been in good control of the case. Musa, on the other hand, had been asking other BN components to come to his rescue that saw a number of enthusiastic helpers including Yee Moh Chai, Yong Tet Lee, or their respective related assistants or officials rushed in to support a so-called “all religious group” dialogue and resolved to support Musa decision on the relocation proposal of Kudat Matzu statue. They were virtually trying to gain benefits at the expenses of Chong’s misfortune.

Chong paid heftily by resignation without hesitation over his discord with Musa. His resignation was not sympathized by others including his BN colleagues and especially PM who said that Chong’s resignation will not affect BN etc….

Now that Musa Government is generous on the approval of 7.5 acres of state land in Pak Pak beach, 6KM from Kudat town, to The federation of Hainam Association in Labuan & Sabah. It’s common view that this is a show of political muscle in order to discredit Chong. Some even said that this is a despicable tactic of controlling “the Chinese by Chinese” via the PBS group co-led by Yee. Government also approved the building of a Matzu statue at the same site approved.The president of The federation of Hainam Association in Labuan & Sabah is headed by John Lim Yu Chen, Political Secretary to Yee Moh Chai.

In view of the generosity, it maybe good idea for other devotees throughout Sabah to apply similarly Matju Statues at major seaside towns, with government financial helps of course.

Perhaps the localities for erecting the statue could be in Kota Kinabalu, Papar, Kuala Penyu, Sipitang, Sandakan, Lahad Datu, Tawau, and finally Labuan. Prime consideration criteria to qualify for similar helps from government should be on the seaside towns.

What about Pagodas or any other statues that could attract tourists and of religious significance?

From YB Raymond New Home To New Cabinet Appointments

YB Raymond Tan and YB Au Kam Wah finally announced joining Gerakan.

Raymond told the press that he'd found a proper home for his followers and himself. He cited that many parties had been offering "shelter" but eventually he preferred Gerakan where he feels much “comfortable”, unlike some parties such as the Sabah MCA and LDP which had not been “friendly” to him.

It's all started with the incredible bond between him (Raymond) and the CM that the latter went all out to keep him from being pushed out (marginalized) by other components in the BN. Intense internal rivalry among all the components in the BN is not uncommon phenomenon.

The centre of the argument started with the issue of true representation of the Chinese Community in the Sabah BN where Raymond had not been an active (or hardly known) politician with the Chinese community was doubted as the appropriate leader for the purpose.

This irked every body in the BN especially LDP and MCA respectively.

He was appointed as DCM (for the Chinese "quota") because he was the highest echelon leader available of the then SAPP which enjoyed enormous supports from the Chinese Community.

Yong Tet Lee, the popular Chinese leader and the President of SAPP, had just finished his 5 years political “prison” sentence, was again left out of the race during the last general election. It was noted that Yong was somehow “barred” from the active politic role due to certain forces in the Sabah BN.

Otherwise we could have seen Yong to become the rightful DCM instead of Raymond, and of course he needs pre-blessing from the CM of the day in order to achieve this.

The pull out of SAPP on September 17, 2008 was the turning point where State Assembly Members from SAPP, Raymond and Au, chose to stay party-less but pro-BN.

Despite all the rumours and speculations, Raymond continued enjoy undivided supports from CM and kept his DCM and Works Minister portfolio for almost 8 months.

Now that he’d found a home in BN, Raymond should now do the honourable thing by resigning immediately all his cabinet posts, the DCM & Work Minister posts respectively in order for CM to re-arrange his cabinet as necessary.

It's a matter of procedure and a respect of procedure, discipline, integrity, and professionalism. This is because he should also be seen respecting his own new party by doing so.

He should not worry that the CM won’t appoint him any portfolio as he must have the skills that CM can hardly do without by judging on the record in the last 8 months.

Perhaps CM could consider the following appointments that should make every body happy and united:-

1. YB Raymond remains as Work Minister;
2. YB Edward Khoo from MCA promoted as DCM and a Finance Minister post;
3. YB Teo of LDP as Deputy Finance Minister

I think it's high time that CM concentrates on the central role of leading the state by going more frequently to the grass root levels that he may not have times to look after all the affairs (People First, Performance Now!); the delegation of the financial portfolio to MCA is most appropriate as MCA is the second largest components of BN in federal level and has been contributing a lot in the BN ruling in Sabah since 1994.

With the introduction of 1Malaysia, I think the “racial quota” on the DCM posts in the Sabah state cabinet line up may deem to be meaningless or unnecessary if we truly want to implement the 1Malaysia concept from the new PM seriously.