Homes Burned Down

Sadly enough two families lost everything they got after fire gutted their homes at the Stutong Resettlement Scheme on Thursday night.

Ironically the fire was believed to have started about 8 o'clock in the kitchen area of the wooden house belonging to a fireman attached to the Tabuan Jaya fire station before spreading to the adjoining house owned by a former army personnel who is also related to the fireman's wife.
Before the fire started the fireman and his wife were attending a church service, leaving two of their three children at home alone, while the ex-army, his wife and their three sons had just finished having dinner.

According to the wife, she was was cleaning the dishes at the back of her house when she caught the smell of smoke coming from next door and looked up to see the kitchen area on fire.

She immediately shouted to her husband who was watching television together with his children in the living room.
The sight of their burning houses proved too much for the victims while relatives who wailed out loud and fainted on several occasions.

Fire fighters from Tabuan Jaya, Batu Lintang and Padungan fire stations arrived at the scene to douse the blaze but their efforts were hampered by low water pressure coupled with a non-functioning fire hydrant, located quite far from the burning houses.

This Car Wants To Fly

A freak accident nearly claims three lives at the Kuching International Airport this morning.

The car with its driver and a passenger and a man clinging for his dear life on the hood nearly plunge thirty feet from the first floor departure level down to the airport’s ground floor.

In the 9am incident, the public who saw it said it was like something out of an action movie when the man, in his 40s, was clinging onto the front of the car for about 50 metres as it skidded and swerved across the tiled floor outside the departure hall.

The vehicle, a Proton Wira, finally came to a halt when it crashed into the metal security railing at the end of the departure hall.

According to witnesses, the Wira had earlier rear ended a Kelisa which was being driven by a man who had just dropped off two of his friends for departure.

The Kelisa driver got out of his car to inspect the damage, when suddenly the Wira suddenly jerked forward onto the tiled floor and knocked a man onto its hood in the process.

The already out-of-control Wira nearly crashed into the glass partition of the departure hall had the driver not swerved his vehicle away at the last minute.

In a state of panic the driver was unable to bring the Wira under control before it crashed into the metal railing.

The driver was not injured but the man on the hood suffered a suspected broken leg and some minor cuts to his body.

Community Left Out From Najib's Cabinet

MPs from community feel a Bidayuh should be in the cabinet

KUCHING: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has derailed the One Malaysia concept when he excluded the Bidayuh from his cabinet, a Bidayuh MP said yesterday.

Dr James Dawos Mamit, the Mambong MP and Sarawak’s environmental advisor, said while there was no doubt that the prerogative to appoint members of his cabinet is Najib’s, by not appointing one from among the three Bidayuh MPs the prime minister had made the One Malaysia concept look like just mere rhetoric.

“To me, he (Najib) has derailed the concept of promoting One Malaysia … to promote unity and the concept of all races working together,” he said when met at Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) headquarters where he attended the Pesta Birumuh appreciation dinner Sunday.

“Whether it (One Malaysia) is mere rhetoric or not, I don’t know, but it does look like it is now,” Dawos stressed, adding that a One Malaysia could not happen if some communities, even how minority, was not given the chance for equitable participation in the business of running the country at the highest level of government.

“I cannot say I’m happy because I did not get it (a federal cabinet post), but I am certainly disappointed that neither of the other two MPs got it. The Bidayuh have been sidelined,” he said, adding that he strongly felt there should be a Bidayuh representative in the cabinet.

That said, Dawos pointed out that he would not resign as MP merely because he was unhappy with the exclusion of the Bidayuh from the federal cabinet. Dawos said the Bidayuh had still a lot to catch up with and could not afford to distance itself from mainstream politics.

He said if he were to resign it would be to the detriment of the future of the community.

“Besides, to me BN is a good political platform and I will always support it and not resign. My political career started with BN and will end in BN,” he affirmed, adding that he would continue to fight from within BN for Bidayuh political struggle.

Dawos was commenting on calls made through SMS asking him and the other two Bidayuh MPs – Datuk Richard Riot Jaem (Serian) and Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe (Mas Gading) - to resign as a show of disapproval for the community’s exclusion from Najib’s cabinet.

Dawos said: “With the latest development (non-participation of Bidayuh in the federal cabinet), I am obliged to make a statement particularly because lately I have been receiving many SMSes calling for my resignation.”

He said most of the SMSes were from people in his constituency who felt that Najib had failed them and fallen on his promise to promote the One Malaysia concept.

Meanwhile, Dr Tiki, when contacted yesterday, confirmed receiving SMSes demanding that he resign as MP to reflect the Bidayuh’s dissatisfaction.

“The Bidayuh are feeling disbelief, frustration and hopelessness. That’s what they said in their SMSes to me,” Dr Tiki said.

“I’m on the ground to get feedback,” Dr Tiki said, but refused to elaborate.

Attempts to contact Riot for comments failed, but political observers feel that the sentiment is the same in the Serian constituency where the five-time MP holds sway. In fact, sources said Serian is a volatile area that only Riot - not BN, and certainly not SUPP, his party — has control over now.

“SUPP (Sarawak United People’s Party) is literally clinging to some straws in Serian, and it really does not help the party that its president (Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan), by his own admission, submitted six names, making it look like he was thinking that Najib would pick Riot’s name like the prime minister was playing a game of lucky draw,” an observer said. - The Borneo Post

FULFIL THOSE PROMISES

Congratulations! Ngagai voters di Batang Ai. Taun 2011 Lubok Antu Maju. Bisi bank, bisi sepital, jalai diturap ari Ng Kesit ke Ulu Lemanak, Pasar Lubok Antu ngagai Ensawang, Sebangki ngagai Sayat, Soh, Kelampu, Semunyih, Bukit Tungku and all. Land Titles will be issued to all resettlement area. MAJU LUBOK ANTU MAJU BY 2011 !! (Bookmark this, just in case nothing goes on the ground in the next 12 months)

PKR: Congratulations to you guys, who did a good job in pressuring the government to come up with a lot of goodies.Continue with the struggle and maintain the pressure. REMEMBER: "Rome was not built in a day".

Undecided for Batang Ai

Batang Ai
95% Iban, remaining Chinese and other indigenous people
This is the election that has the most probability of my prediction being wrong. The settlements near the dam, amounting to 20% of the constituents, are solidly behind PKR, while other rural folk appear to be behind BN. The shock and awe tactics employed by the BN are due on election eve, so its really hard to see where this one will swing.

But I'll take a stab and say Pakatan win of 200-300 votes. Don't ever quote me on this one (except if I am really correct). (Previous result BN win of 800+ votes) - The Politics Blog