Re-examine Malaysia Agreement, Dr Sim urges federal govt

December 13, 2015, Sunday

KUCHING: The federal government should take another look at the Malaysia Agreement 1963 as there are sentiments of unhappiness among Sarawakians, particularly where development is concerned, said Senator Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian.

“We are not asking them to change the laws but if there are any new laws passed after Malaysia Agreement 1963 that affect our rights, then we must amend the laws in Parliament.

“This is just to ensure the Malaysia Agreement is fulfilled. Sarawakian representatives in Parliament should fight for their rights,” he told reporters at a press conference yesterday.

Dr Sim pointed out that Sarawak, together with Sabah, are partners rather than one of the 13 states in the formation of Malaysia that are equals in all aspects.

“We want a more meaningful autonomy, not merely empowerment in a few areas. In one of my oral questions in Parliament, I asked the prime minister to update us on how much autonomy has the federal government granted to the state government and I got a written answer that they are giving us administrative empowerment in operational functions without needing to amend the Constitution or the laws.

“Empowerment alone is not enough. For a start, the federal government could look into giving one-third of parliamentary seats to Sarawak and Sabah,” he said, adding other thorny issues that are still pending include oil and gas royalty, education and healthcare development.

Dr Sim believed that it is important that whatever he said in Parliament as a Senator must reflect what the state government is saying or doing in order for the federal government to take serious notice.

“There’s no point if we talk about autonomy here in the State Legislative Assembly but Parliament doesn’t know anything about what is going on,” he said.

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2015/12/13/re-examine-malaysia-agreement-dr-sim-urges-federal-govt/#ixzz3ukpkLoqW

Let state Education Dept manage funds for schools – STU

December 13, 2015, Sunday Peter Boon reporters@theborneopost.com

SIBU: The State Education Department should be given more autonomy on the management of allocations for schools.

Sarawak Teachers’ Union (STU) offered this suggestion in response to Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid’s recent statement that the ministry now had a budget of RM86 million to fund repairs for about 300 schools in Sarawak, besides the state getting 42 new schools next year at a cost of RM1.3 billion.

STU president Jisin Nyud also pointed out that the cost for repairs and maintenance of schools will vary from one place to the other depending on the prices of goods and location.

“The cost of items in Kuching will not be the same as in Belaga and Baram. For rural schools, after considering the factors involved, the costs will surely double or even triple.

“With our recent economic scenario, they should think of how to minimise the costs. Just leave it to the state Education Department to look into the management of the allocation,” he told thesundaypost yesterday.

“More autonomy should be given to the state Education Department to manage the money and there should be no more central contract because the cost is so high. Leave it to the local contractors to carry out the projects.

“We don’t want every level of contractors to get a portion (of the allocation) until in the end, the remaining budget for the project is only sufficient enough to go for low quality materials,” he said.

He said that local contractors should be given priority to conduct the repairs and maintenance of schools, including the building of new schools projects.

Jisin reasoned that should anything happen to the project, it would be easier to contact the contractors.

With more schools, overcrowding can be reduced to make teaching and learning more conducive, he added.

“Besides the congestion, some students find it difficult to reach schools due to transportation problems.

“This is *due their location where there is no regular transport or the complete lack of private or public transport,” Jisin noted.

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2015/12/13/let-state-education-dept-manage-funds-for-schools-stu/#ixzz3ukmX3ScE

K Nanga Kua badly damaged by flood

December 3, 2015, Thursday Jane Moh, reporters@theborneopost.com

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One of the classrooms badly damaged by the flood.

The classrooms’ corridor is smeared by mud brought about by the flood.

The compound of the teachers’ quarters after the flood.

Another scene of the teachers’ quarters after the flood.

SIBU: The academic block and staff quarters of SK Nanga Kua, Selangau are badly damaged by the flood on Tuesday.

Its headmaster Matu Ekum said almost 95 per cent of the school equipment was destroyed, lamenting it was the worst flood ever to hit the school. Among the most badly affected was the kitchen which could collapse anytime.

“The water level went up rapidly around midnight (Tuesday) following the daily heavy downpour in upper Mukah. We had early preparation for the flood and the damage was unavoidable,” he lamented.

He said 24 school officials were there during the flood and many took temporary shelter at Rumah Banyan nearby.

According to Matu, the affected areas had yet to be cleaned as they were still busy cleaning their residential areas. He believed the flood would make a comeback since the school is situated a few metres away from the nearby river.

Teachers and non-teaching staff who were not at the scene could not enter the school for the time being because the road to the school has been damaged and still under water.

“I think the road will still be impassable tomorrow (today),” he said, adding that it also affected residents of Rumah Banyan.

Asked whether there was a plan to move the school to a new site, he said this had been discussed before but no decision had been made.

SK Nanga Selangau is also affected by the flood.

Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2015/12/03/sk-nanga-kua-badly-damaged-by-flood/#ixzz3tmS0pyD6

黄庆伟：未欠建费 任发展商收1亿过桥费

2015年12月8日 南砂

（本报古晋7日讯）砂行动党浮罗岸区州议员黄庆伟抨击，州政府早在诗巫南兰大桥竣工时已清还工程费用予私人发展商，但是却放任私人发展商向人民征收过桥费长达8年，让有关发展商从中获利高达1亿令吉。

黄庆伟今日在砂州立法议会召开新闻发布会时揭露，根据刚出炉的2014年总稽查司报告显示，于2006年竣工的诗巫南兰大桥工程费用高达1亿8000万令吉，州政府在工程落成后分别以9000万令吉及批出近25万英亩土地，来支付私人发展商的工程费用。

拨地抵工程费

他指出，当时政府除了交付9000万令吉现金予发展商之外，另外也拨出总面积约25万英亩的政府地给有关私人发展公司，作为抵消工程余额的费用，而且若以9000万令吉余额来计算，近25万英亩的土地每英亩平均只需320令吉。

“政府当时所支付的金额和土地，用来抵消总值1亿8000万令吉的工程费用已是绰绰有余，但是却放任私人发展公司继续向人民征收长达8年的过桥费，这是不合理的行为。”

征8年过桥费
同时，黄庆伟也认为人民根本无需对州政府宣布废除南兰大桥收费而心存感激，因为早在大桥竣工后开始通车的那一天，政府就已清还大桥的工程费用，以致人民在这8年来白白让私人发展商从中获利高达1亿令吉。

此外，柏拉旺州议员黄培根也谴责州政府在执行工程方面不透明，以黑箱作业方式剥夺人民的权益。

他说，负责承包南兰大桥工程的私人发展商在2006年至今，长达8年已向中区人民征收高达1亿令吉的过桥费，不合理的收费加重了人民的负担，尤其是每日必须往来诗巫，依靠销售农作物赚取微薄生计的农民，更是雪上加霜的负担。

My Comments：
这就是BN政府的作业99.9%都是非常黑的，带头的那只狼，为了个人和集团的利益，尽情的掠夺和剥削人民。  这是Taib Mahmud时代，黄顺舸。。。。那一群狼豺虎豹/入非人所干的好事。  制造问题的一群人。 解除了问题还敢，还有脸，制造要人民感恩的情景，我真的服了这一群入非人。

河溪的污染问题

2015年12月6日 东南西北

韦尚仁
不久前，有一位﹑官爷说﹕达万拉耶的河溪可能变成死河。
他这番话勾起我的记忆﹔大概在十多年前，有一位官爷说﹕史都东巴刹的排污系统是东南亚数一数二的﹔先进﹑环保，卫生。

在我一九七八年住进达万拉耶时，达万拉耶河涨朝时，水深十多尺，哥达船航上航下，载满着亚答片，渔网，还有船家大小，他们就靠捕捉鱼虾螃蟹，龟鳖蚌 蛤，螺蚬麻（虫旁）蜞（小螃蟹）为生。那时候的水产丰富，一次下网两三公斤白虾，半小时捕螃蟹三五公斤收获，下约鳖龟大小皆有﹔令渔民生活舒怡。

一个达雅人在退潮后就倒河边捞螃蟹，每天都有四五公斤的收获，卖数十令吉，真令人羡慕。

有一个老华人说﹕二十多年前，他在夜晚去捉小螃蟹，一晚可捉整大油桶，七八公斤。如今缺产了，一公斤酱油腌制的小螃蟹售价十四五令吉，真成了珍品。

时过境迁，史都东的污水，粪渣﹑尿水，猪鸡鱼内脏杂物全灌入达万拉鲁溪，流过达万德沙，入槟岭河。加上油垢毒汁杂呈，水中生物受不了恶劣环境，迁移了。

达万拉耶桥头河边的高楼大厦建筑，洋灰污水注入河中，也驱走了水产，让卖螃蟹的老弟失业了，专靠赌多多碰运气生存了。

当下时尚城市发展专家认识到环保的重要，爱护地球心声的激荡，提倡起绿化工程来了。政府也开始立法严惩破坏环境者，尤其是烧芭耕种者制造烟霾，危害健康，影响作业，如印尼烟霾指数达二千余点，居民要活得不病也难了。

此次东盟国防部长会议在大马首府召开，除了谈各国防卫与地区安全稳定外，却没谈及如何确保南海环保问题，因为美日这两个好惹事生非的霸权主义国家又要在南海军演，释放更多一氧化碳﹑二氧化碳﹑毒气，热气来破坏大气层，臭气层，让紫外线摧毁地球生灵。

大人物做事也如此疏忽，可悲呀﹗

420,000 die from tainted food annually

420,000 die from tainted food annually, a third of them young children: WHO       AFP

GENEVA - Thursday, December 03, 2015 19:01 Email Print

Some 600 million people get sick from eating contaminated food each year, and around 420,000 die, the World Health Organization said Thursday, adding that young children account for nearly one third of those deaths.

In its first-ever estimate of the impact of foodborne diseases, the UN health agency found that almost one in 10 people globally get sick each year from food contaminated with a range of bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins and chemicals.

Kazuaki Miyagishima, head of WHO's food safety division, stressed the importance of getting clear data on the problem.

"Until now, we have been combating an invisible enemy, an invisible ghost," he told reporters in Geneva, adding that he hoped that quantifying the toll of contaminated food would help mobilize countries to significantly boost food safety.

The report, which is based on analysis of data up to 2010, identified 31 different agents contaminating food and making hundreds of millions of people either acutely ill or injecting them with serious illnesses like cancer that may not surface until years later.

In addition to killing nearly half a million people each year, foodborne diseases are taking a significant toll on the quality of life of those who survive, the report said.

Each year, the global population as a whole loses a full 33 million so-called Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), or healthy years of life, it said.

'Very conservative' numbers

Miyagishima said the numbers were "very conservative," representing the "minimum damage caused to humanity by contaminated foods."

Since foodborne pathogens take advantage of weak immune systems, young children are particularly at risk.

Children under the age of five make up only nine percent of the global population but account for nearly 40 percent of all illnesses linked to eating unsafe food and 30 percent -- 125,000 -- of all related deaths, the report said.

Foodborne diseases can cause short-term, albeit violent, symptoms like vomiting and diarrhoea, usually referred to as food poisoning, but can also cause long-term illnesses like cancer, kidney or liver failure, brain and neural disorders, it said.

Diarrhoeal diseases, often caused by eating raw or undercooked meat, eggs and dairy products contaminated with salmonella, E.coli or campylobacter bacteria, or the norovirus stomach bug, are by far responsible for most foodborne diseases.

Some 550 million people fall sick with food-related diarrhoea diseases each year, and 230,000 of them die, including 96,000 children under the age of five, the report showed.

It also listed parasites like the Taenia Solium tapeworm and aflatoxin, which is produced by mould on grain that is stored inappropriately and which has been linked to cancer in the liver and kidneys, among the major culprits.

While some diseases, like those caused by salmonella, can wreak havoc worldwide, many food contaminants are far more common in poorer countries, where people are more likely to prepare food with unsafe water, and where food production and storage is more likely to be inadequate.

Lower levels of literacy and education, as well as lax or poorly implemented food safety laws compound the problem.

Africa and Southeast Asia are the hardest-hit regions, together accounting for 312,000 deaths related to contaminated food each year, compared to just 5,000 deaths in Europe and 9,000 deaths in the Americas, where food safety laws are stronger.

Arie Hendrik Havelaar, who heads WHO's foodborne disease burden epidemiology reference group, said the jarring differences showed countries could choose to make the food we eat safer.

"A large part of these foodborne diseases are preventable," he told reporters.

Tweets 2/12/2015

Tweets  2/12/2015

教育部一次有一次又一次又一次又一次又一次又一次又一次又一次又一次如此无耻的作业。不管[用者]的 需求。 这么样不到位的做业。这是哪一门的生意可以不雇消费者，只迎合巫统的胃口的作业？ 我希望，华校校长，老师，董事们要懂得狠狠的拒绝[病态的]历史论述。 敢敢的推还这些不合格的课本。

华小董事部可以联合编写自己的历史课本。同时，要各个部长先生，女士和小姐们有必要求拨款给华小重新编写那些不合格的教科书。 敢敢的，狠狠的拒绝任何浓浓巫统味道的东西。 学生是消费者，他们就是有消费者的权益。所以上报消费者协会有关这不合格的课本。 要求赔偿这损失。 同时，联合其他源流学校一起行动。

我不属于任何利益团体。 我是以logic和理性基础出发。 我是100%厌恶邪恶。 这种[造神]的历史，[放大]某种族的[优异]贡献和牺牲是非常非常非常病态的。 消费者有100%的权力拒绝这种病态的课本。 学生也有100%权力要求适合华小的马来文课本。不然，就推还。不要有任何忧虑了。 保护自己的权益，就是敢敢拒绝不利自己的任何东西。

拒绝[委屈]，不要让过去的种种[悲情]跟我们为伍。 是时候教训这些病态的人。要求他们辞职赔不是。 为了避免他们一次有一次又一次又一次又一次[胡乱非为]，就是敢敢和狠狠的跟这些病态的人说：[不。。。。。。。。]