Belaga Boat Accident: Comprehending Sarawak’s Rural Development Issues

After failing to deny BN of its ‘fixed-deposit’ seats in Sarawak, Lim Kit Siang clearly has not given up in trying to win the heart of the people of Sarawak.  The Belaga boat accident provided him a perfect opportunity to portray himself as the champion of the fate of the Sarawakians.  

So, Kit Siang blogged about the accident as a proof of failure of 50 years of development in Sarawak under BN.  He claimed that DAP is shocked and outraged at the tragic Belaga boat disaster and blame it on the non-existence of road access to rural districts of Sarawak.  

Now, to blame the BN government is easy and anybody can do so without having to go to school or become a Member of Parliament.  Anybody can criticize and condemn, but only the smart ones can offer solutions.  

Nobody would say that BN has abandoned the Sarawakians in the rural areas if, they have actually been to the rural areas of Sarawak.   Therefore, we suspect that Kit Siang hasn’t really been there.  

The landscape of Sarawak is largely covered by primary jungle dissected by trails of fast flowing rivers, swamp forests and as well as low and high mountains.  

The population in Sarawak is spread all over from up the mountain to the deepest jungles and by the rivers.  In many of these places, should there has never been any development at all, one would have to go through a complete adventure from jungle trekkings, mountain climbings and swimming in rivers just to get to the nearest town.  

Of course we can call for the government to build access roads up to the doorsteps of the population in all these areas.  

But the problem is that there only about hundreds of people in any one of these areas.  

Therefore, how do we justify spending RM600 millions for every 150km road in order to accommodate about 600 population or less, in all these rural areas in Sarawak?   Imagine multiplying the cost for every 150km, and every remote villages and long houses, in this biggest state of Malaysia.  As a note, Sarawak has an area of about 124,000 km2 of which is almost equivalent to the total area of 11 states that formed the Peninsular Malaysia.  

The BN government however, does provide all these areas with speedboats and ferries and proper roads up to each and every point of access.  Those places where all is impossible, flights are available for emergencies, as well as reliable communication system.  Schools and hospitals are also available as per necessary in each and every district in order to ensure the people’s access to education and healthcare.  

The Sarawakians are well aware of the reality of their landscape and the problems that come with it.  And they are also aware that the BN government has been doing all it can to improve and change their lives for the better and has never and will never stop doing so.  Now that the new cabinet sees more line-ups from this part of the country, the Sarawakians can surely expect more from BN.  Thanks to the Chinese who voted DAP and refused the cabinet posts.  

Sarawakians are smart not to fall for Kit Siang’s act of heroism because they know that Kit Siang too, has no solution nor ideas to offer, in order to tackle the problem of the rural development of the state to the core.   All Kit Siang has are baseless promises and pointless talks and curses for BN and nothing else.  

It isn’t hard to see that Kit Siang is not a naturally caring person to actually feel ‘outraged’ at the tragedy of Belaga boat.  Kit Siang or DAP has so far only shown concern over its own people – the Chinese.   Should other race being wrongly treated, like a woman who was forced to strip naked by the police, DAP immediately dropped the fight for her as soon as they learned that the woman was a Malay, and not Chinese.  

Kit Siang may fool his own people into believing that DAP is a caring, clean and transparent party, but Kit Siang can never fool other races, including the bumiputeras of Sarawak with his act of concern or ‘outraged’.  

The Sarawakians know for a fact that BN gave them real promises based on the reality of the situation, and BN has all the while been trying its best to accommodate them.  Unlike Kit Siang, BN’s concern is real, and we all can see it in in the party’s track records, or even in Dato’ Seri Najib’s personality alone.