Sabah lost all its cattle under PBS, says DAP

Kota Kinabalu: DAP Sabah is disappointed with Keningau MP Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan for not raising the water supply problem in the interior in Parliament.

DAP Sabah Secretary Dr. Edwin Bosi said as an MP for several terms Pairin has failed in his duty miserably and in accordance with the political standard of developed countries he (Pairin) should have tendered his resignation without being asked to.

"Why should the people in the interior suffer because of his poor performance? It is so ironical that the Prime Minister has to come to the interior to resolve the water problem.

"DAP Sabah can see water pipe laying here and there in Sabah but the sources of the water are unclear. What is obvious is the poor coordination between the State and Federal Ministries of infrastructure as far as water supply is concerned."

Edwin also said DAP Sabah is sad that development of handicraft and livestock is only surfacing now.
"They should have been undertaken long ago. In fact they are already handicraft and livestock activities in Sabah.

"It looks like the handicraft centre and livestock centre are given a new "paint" for the sake of the Prime Minister's visit to the interior.

Edwin said DAP Sabah would like to remind the government that Sabah had the largest cattle farm during the PBS era. Desa Cattle, a wholly-owned government company had more than 5,000 heads of cattle in Sook but this was sold off to a company which has since converted the cattle farm into oil palm plantation.

"Sabah used to own three cattle properties in the Northern Territory of Australia. They too have been sold off.

"DAP Sabah would also like to ask the government why it has only "created" one Datuk Yap Yun Fook through its dairy programme?

"Datuk Yap who is a dairy millionaire was cited by the Prime Minister during his visit to Sook.

What happened to the others especially the natives who were also involved in the dairy programme?

The government should tell the people why the natives have failed in this enterprise.

"We would like to ask if the Keningau Livestock Integrated Centre (KLIC) will benefit the local natives?

"We feel that the local should not just benefit from employment opportunity in KLIC but be part and parcel of the business.

"It is only when they are involved with the business that poverty eradication among the said community can be realised.

We would also like to see many dairy millionaires from the native community.

Parlimen boleh bubar sebelum belanjawan - Timb Speaker

Timbalan Speaker Dewan Rakyat Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar percaya Parlimen boleh dibubar bila-bila masa se- belum Belanjawan 2013 dibentang pada September akan datang.

Ahli Parlimen Santubong itu berkata, pembubaran Parlimen yang dilakukan sebelum ini tidak banyak perbezaannya.

“Perdana Menteri boleh mengumumkan pembubaran Parlimen pada bila-bila masa sahaja… sebelum, selepas atau pada pertengahan persidangan,” katanya.

Beliau berkata demikian ketika ditemui pada Majlis Jamuan Teh sempena sambutan Hari Keputeraan Yang di-Pertuan Agong Peringkat Negeri Sarawak,2 Jun lalu.

“Tidak ada apa-apa dalam perlembagaan atau undang-undang yang boleh menghalang pembubaran Parlimen,” katanya.

Beliau menarik perhatian, jika Perdana Menteri telah memberi nasihat kepada Agong dan baginda berse tuju maka dibubarlah Parlimen.

Wan Junaidi menarik perhatian bahawa belanjawan mungkin menunjukkan Pilihan Raya Umum Ke-13 (PRU13) diadakan selepas itu atau sebelumnya.

Ditanya adakah pilihan raya tidak boleh diadakan semasa belanjawan, Wan Junaidi berkata:

“Pada 1999 atau 2000 separuh belanjawan dilakukan selepas asul dibahaskan dan belanjawan adalah salah satu rang undang-undang atau perlembagaan yang tidak membatalkan belanjawan itu sendiri.

Beliau menjelaskan bahawa rang undang-undang yang sedang dibahaskan akan terus menjadi sah sehingga pembubaran Parlimen.

“Parlimen boleh diteruskan, melainkan jika kerajaan baharu dan menteri kewangan baharu mempunyai idea sendiri mengenai apa yang hendak dibelanjakan,” katanya.

Lebih 200,000 belum daftar undi - SPR

Eligible Malaysians are advised to register as voters this month if they want to practise their rights in the 13th general election should it be held in September.

Election Commission (EC) deputy chairman Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Wan Omar in making the call yesterday, revealed that some quarter-million Sabahans above the age of 21 have yet to register as voters.

“If they register in the second quarter of this year, they will be able to vote if elections are held after August,” he told reporters after briefing 30 officials from 15 political parties from Barisan Nasional and the opposition in Sabah about the electoral rules and regulations.

He disclosed that to date, there are 946,638 registered voters in Sabah and 258,943 eligible voters have yet to register.

Describing the figure of unregistered eligible citizens as “a big number”, he called on to them to come out and register now.

He said if the eligible voters do come out and get themselves registered, Sabah would have a total of 1,205,581 registered names in its electoral roll by September.

“Registered voters, meanwhile, may check their status and polling centres this month by sending their full name and MyKad number via text message to 15888 or contact the Sabah Election Commission number at 088-488588,” said Wan Ahmad.

On another development, he said very few people had come forward to clarify the position of some 13,000 dubious voters when they exhibited the names for three months.

“We believe many of these people are dead and their families did not report the deaths to the National Registration Department. We cannot remove their names so it will remain in the rolls until their next of kin come forward to clarify it.

“That is why sometimes there are cases of someone aged 120 still in the rolls.

"We cannot remove them as we are not empowered by law to delete such names.

"If the constitution is amended and the EC is allowed to delete these names without confirmation from the the National Registration Department, this can be dangerous,” he explained.

He added that most of these dubious voters were registered since the 1960s.
“That is also probably partly the reason why come election, the number of voters turnout is only about 75 per cent,” he said.

Also present at the briefing were EC deputy secretary Datuk Nordin Che Ngah and Sabah EC director Datuk Md Idrus Ismail.