"LET THINGS NOT FALL APART"

OPEN MEMORANDUM to the Prime Minister of Malaysia in November 2009 in conjunction with your visit to Sabah - "LET THINGS NOT FALL APART" by Joshua Kong

1. INTRODUCTION

Is your 1Malaysia - the prescription good enough to deal with prevailing scenario in Malaysia which had been seen to be in segregation for decades? With the perception that "No one cares and no one does anything. And then , as poet Chinua Achebe puts it what happen is "Things fall apart". The scenario of helplessness is evident every where when 30 Police reports worth RM30 trillions are largely ignored.

Malaysia is now at a very low point, but it's at the critical point from which it can improve and reach it's potential of a prosperous harmonious society or sink further and become a failed state, a hell on earth for most of it's citizens, a paradise for an elite few who are parasites upon the majority. By whatever standard, it is obvious we are a failed state when Sabah the richest state became the poorest in Malaysia within a few decades.

We as the consumers activists are very concerned especially for Sabah that your 1Malaysia policy would not even scratch the surface of the deep rooted crisis in our midst when Sabah once the peaceful state prior to 1963 is no more enjoying that. We had earlier submitted five memorandas to the Government as per attachment.


2. Fundamental Matters for the nation :-

2.1 FEDERAL CONSTITUTION

Addressing fundamental matters, we need to review the Federal Constitution holistically in wholesome manner to iron out the divisive and discriminating factors especially after the Federal Constitution had been amended many times. The role of the Constitution is to acknowledge God and not to act as our own God with emphasis on the appropriate roles in action of the Monarchy office, the Judiciary, the Executive and the Legislative with check and balance from the public at large via the free press to publish the truth. We must acknowledge the fact that what is good for the nation must be good for the state but unfortunately it has been seen that many conflicting and contradicting scenarios have occurred making the nation to suffer without redress with untold consequences.

2.2 PARLIAMENT & POWER

Who hold the power? Parliament or Executive? Is there any real check and balance? The question of abuses when majority is two third or just simple majority remain indifferent in a bias system. We need to evaluate the performance of parliament [legislative arm] in the context of curbing the unfettered power of the Executive arm.


2.3 BUDGETARY and BONDAGE

It is a fiscal and economical function that budgetary provisions can bind the nation together in good, bad and worse times or let the nation falls apart over a certain period of time. The Executive is unaware that no country can be sustained by substantial revenue based on punitive measures of various forms seen or unseen when corruption and other major leakage prevail to drain the nation dry so much so that less people become productive through demoralisation of all sorts mainly due to inevitable circumstances. Only a small minority of the privileged few would prevail. What would happen when a big river has more big crocodiles than other inhabitants? So we need to review the whole process of budgetary strategy with better checks and balances with new outlook appropriate to address the set backs so far observed.


2.4 PROSPERITY and POVERTY

How can the nation be prosperous and yet large portion of the people are poor and the middle income groups are declining in the face of rising trend of prices of most goods including essential items? There is a need to re-engineer the system so long neglected with negative ingredients and time is no longer in our hands when the ‘blue ocean’ is not exploited properly resulting in a ‘red ocean’ in our midst. Prosperity and poverty are all relative terms and they may cancel out each others to be negative when poverty becomes abject and only a small group is prosperous. Then things would fall apart and how would we avoid this from precipitation?


3. SABAH - a land of plenty once now in disrepair so need urgent attention

There are a lot of pressing issues as identified in the 5 memoranda as attached.

3.1 HIGH POWER COMMITTEES FUTILE

There were a few socalled high power national committees which were futile in recent years. There were the Parliament Select Committee on National Unity and National Service and PSC on Integrity plus the Cabinet Committee on Illegal immigrants in Sabah in dormant mode after some action. Even Human Rights Commission of Malaysia or SUHAKAM is useless and wasteful as far as Sabah is concerned. Now I heard there was some pro- reaction over The Cabinet committee on Bumiputra when the number of real bumiputra is questionable in Sabah for the status of local natives, mixed breed, and illegal Muslim people. So where do we go from here?

3.2 BUDGETS AS FAR AS SABAH IS CONCERNED

A lot of questions present themselves without answers for decades.

3.2.1 General view

What is the impact of two economic stimulus packages worth a national figure of RM67 billion? Very little I would say against a rising trend of price increases across the board with fuel as the major one.

3.2.2 National Automobile Policy [NAP]

Was this NAP dealt with in the latest 2010 budget? If not, why not? So soon after the Budget on 23 October, 2009, NAP announced treatment on private vehicles of 15 years and older. As Puspakom is under the DRB-HICOM which is in turn owned by Khazanah holdings, why is it that the budget did not deal with this new NAP on old private cars. Now the burden is on the poor people who cannot afford on the overpriced local made cars. When the transportation on the local poor people is badly affect and mobility affect productivity, what else would fall apart? The budget 2010 cannot be painless if this item was not omitted therein.

3.2.3 Wealthy people in High Income economy.

The high income economy would only benefit the rich people who can easily earn up to RM100m and more annually and yet taxed at the same rate as those earning RM100,000. As the usual bias scenario drags on and Goods Service Tax GST is pushed further away, the unstable Government surrounded by too many poor and desperate people is going to collapse whether there is GST or not. To start with all other personal and indirect taxes would be reviewed downwards when GST is to be fixed at 2% with selective exemption on a broad range of essential items. Unless we have a new revamped system of tax system to push away/minimise corruption, the high income economy is not only a dream but a nightmare for the nation.

3.2.4 Rewards for civil servants of departments getting more revenue

It may be a good intention but need special attention to enable no repeat of abuses already so rampant in all departments and Government linked agencies mainly due to indispensability and monopoly. All civil servants are actually competing amongst themselves in corruption for ill gotten gains and even the Election Commission which sees regular action only once in 4 or 5 years are also in deep action for corruption by rigging the General Elections. So we can expect collaboration of the civil servants in various high power departments or agencies that can raise much revenue by fictitious ways to get the rewards. Actually the costs of living is contributed partly by the departments and their agencies who raise fees/charges indiscriminately all paid by the hard up consumers.

3.3 Petronas and Oil Royalty

What have been spoken on the case of Kelantan and Terengganu as to their eligibility can mislead the whole nation? The contract with individual states in 1976 was a red herring. The Petronas Act 144 is an illegal piece of law ultra vires the Federal Constitution as far as Sabah and Sarawak are concerned. The power of the Prime Minister in Act 144 is against public interest. The annual report not tabled and debated in Parliament is a grievous crime against the people tantamount to legalise the daylight robberies against the oil producing states especially Sabah and Sarawak. The whole deal on the oil resources in Sabah and Sarawak must be properly reviewed and both states to be indemnified accordingly. The States of Malaya and the Borneo states are to be viewed differently legally.

3.4 Food production to feed the people

How can a nation like Malaysia especially Sabah with plenty of arable land not able to feed ourselves? How long can we afford to import so much foods at RM28 billion annually when global foods prices are on the steep rise? How long can the climate sustain the massive oil palm plantations (alien species) to be productive? Even cultivation of foods and vegetables in the back garden is not that easy now as compared in the few past decades. So when food shortage arise, how would the people be fed properly? Now the padi farmers in Sabah encounter ‘padi angin’ or weedy padi plants for the first time when Sabah is badly in need of local production of rice? The natural rainforest is the ‘blue ocean’ and without that all other cultivation is endangered. Food production in Sabah had been alerted decades ago and the illegal governments just too busy with their own agenda of SHIT - selfish hideous illegal trap. Now sugar may have new problems in the hands of Felda.

3.5 How the people including medium working class become poor

There are many obstacles to retain the income and to catch up with the cost of living with the prevailing incomes. Education proper and additional tuition are burden to the poor families.

There are lots of problems created by greedy people when the chances present themselves. Apart from discriminating factors of like several Malaysia rather than 1Malaysia for decades, there are plenty of cuts in power and water almost daily in many areas, and the sudden cuts themselves are costly for most people who would not be indemnified. Such losses are also exacerbated by the many penalties introduced by the Government. The Government and its agencies are seldom penalised because the poor people cannot afford to bring the cases to the bias Judiciary when Police reports are also useless. The poor people can go so many places to make complaints which are also costly by themselves and no easy solutions. Whenever there are too many regular power/electricity and water cuts - sometimes concurrently, the telephone companies would reap in those revenue from those many calls. So the illegal Government can make the people poor to stay in power in a failed state until all things fall apart because General Elections can be won by rigging with the corrupted Election Commission.

4. CONCLUSION

What is 1Malaysia, people first, performance now? Would this stop ‘Things fall apart" especially in Sabah vis-a-vis Malaysia?

Who are not worried when rich Sabah become the almost poorest in Malaysia? Who are not worried when the population boomed due to external factors not those working hard at nights in love dreams but now tragic nightmares? We the local citizens are all worried and I think the illegal with project IC are also worried given the global scenario when foods are getting more expensive now?

Can we address the question of cancer and the patients? We can get rid of the cancers and the patients together by doing nothing about them. So no costs by the Government are involved as such patients are already too poor to stop the advanced cancers .

Sabah is likened to be in sort of cancer stage with the corruption at an advanced stage as the main ingredient of our woes. If this 1Malaysia is to work here, how much would it cost the nation now? Or would Sabah be just abandoned now and the costs of that impact on the Federal Government for loss of revenue from degraded Sabah is not that much rather than incurring fund to put this Malaysian house in order on par with the rest of the country? So with that Malaysia would fall apart.

So if the nation want to keep 1Malaysia in all sincerity, how much is needed to do that deal? There are so much to do to upgrade Sabah in all aspects and a fair value on the needs would be RM100 billion immediately. But this fund must come to a private trust as the successive Governments past and the incumbent have disqualified themselves to deal with this important project.

Maybe it is too late to talk terms to revive Sabah for past neglect and the local Courts would not be able to handle this as past records show. For whatever reasons, Sabah without its own reserves despite all those wealth, deserves to be redeemed and indemnified to the tune of RM100 billion so that the break up is less painful assuming stopping the "things fall apart" is not available now.

The verdict has been out there long time but ignored as usual as the writing was blocked out by some hidden agenda of the illegal leaders.

Maybe the theme " LET THINGS NOT FALL APART’ is available provided an Interim Government for Good Governance IGGG is installed now for the good of all.

Joshua Y. C. Kong

Prime Minister for IGGG, Malaysia