The PM seems to be making all the wrong moves and the wrong moves in Sabah may not only cost him the Prime Ministership but build up the anger and grievances of Sabahans especially those wishing to opt out of the federation.
Homes in more than 23 villagers in Ranau alone were damaged in the quake. Yet, Najib failed to visit a single village to see the damage for himself and appraise what the federal government should do to repair the damaged homes. Incidentally, Ranau district is not opposition territory and its sole MP and 3 State seats are won by BN in GE-13. That’s strike 1 against Najib.
Instead, Najib chose to visit the Ranau police headquarters. That’s a government building and it goes without saying that even without visiting it, the federal government would have to spend to repair the police building and the family quarters of serving policemen, whatever the costs.
It was disclosed by the Sabah Minerals and Geoscience Department had proposed in 2012 that an earthquake monitoring system with Global Positional System (GPS) be put in place in 2013 at a cost of RM7 million. It was reported that the GPS system could detect even slight movements of the earth in the affected area and could have prevented the loss of lives.
After taking tens of billions annual from Sabah’s oil and tax revenues, and even failing to return the 40% net revenue collected from Sabah as provided in the Federal Constitution, Najib should have approved the RM7 million on the spot. The system could save lives in the event of any future earthquakes. Yet, what has approved was walkie-talkies for guides which indirectly hints of use after a quake has struck, which is too late, and bigger helicopter landing pad but no new helicopters. That’s strike 2 against Najib.
Inviting families of victims is seen as a political publicity stunt with a ”feel good” factor while it is necessary, it does not pass on the lessons from the quake onto others on a wider scale. Neither does it create a lasting impression.
Najib should have announced the approval for the building of a Mount Kinabalu Memorial in honour of the quake victims which included school children from Singapore on a field learning trip and tourists from Japan, China, Philippines, Malaya and, of course, our own 4 heroic mountain guides. Instead, Najib approves a RM10 million for Mount Kinabalu restoration which will probably cost more but why restrict to just RM10 million?
The Memorial could also have been in appreciation and tribute to the other mountain guides that brought down all 137 climbers to safety that night. Part of the memorabilia to be displaced could have been the “kampong” or village makeshift paraphilia that were used by the guides in creating the new trails and makeshift stretchers that carried the injured down.
Most importantly, the Memorial could have been the starting point for a whole new education process of earthquake survival lessons and disaster management. And there are plenty to learn from quake countries like Japan where school children are taught the basics of dos and don’ts in an earthquake emergency. It would have been very useful now that there are reports that Sabah could be in for more earthquakes in the future with the next big quake would probably happen in Lahad Datu.
In addition, the Memorial would have been a potential tourist attraction for visitors to Mount Kinabalu, Kundasang and Ranau.
That’s strike 3 and in a normal game, Najib would be out and be replaced by the next. As he is the PM, he can bend the rules but he would need to remember that he owes Sabah for his position. It is not too late for Najib to rectify the mis-steps and do the right things for Sabah. After all, the national treasury that he holds contains lots of billions of ringgit collected or contributed by Sabah.
No comments:
Post a Comment