We can never afford to lose Tanjung Aru Beach

We can never afford to lose Tanjung Aru Beach

Tanjung Aru Beach (TAB) in unfortunately allowed to “degenerate” into Tanjung Aru Eco Development Sdn Bhd. or TAED since 2013 by exPrime Minister Najib Razak as aided and abetted by exCM Musa Aman for reasons best known to them.

TAED has been a thorn for a few years of endless debate bordering on hopelessness as the substance of TAED’s intention is simply questioned and dubious.  Lots of pros and cons had been raised via the SEIA of the Environment Department and many sleepless nights for activists and conservationists alike.

Despite the new State Government in its manifesto GE14 of keeping the TAB untouched, the new State Government under Warisan has changed its stance on TAB and TAED for fresh development.

The latest development of TAED is that as exposed in a news article titled “No State funding now for TAED” (DE 20 Oct, 2019) where the state minister Datuk Junz Wong had exposed new development with TAED.

It is indeed very worrying that we may lose TAB in most unfortunate way as the article stated that “the final decision lies in the hands of the Chief Minister and the State Cabinet over the estimated RM4 billions needed…” But the heading “No state funding now for TAED” has given away that outsiders are coming in such fund and no further details had been revealed.  China funding has been in the news everywhere but can we lose TAB if China allows the fund to come but no way for Sabah to repay the loan as there is no feasibility paper to show the performance of TAED.

Before we talk of funding, it is seen that TAED is in a mess in TAB even spending RM90m in various   preliminaries including purchase of land thereof.  TAB is now devoid of its many heritage buildings in great disrepair and plundering by illegal trespassing of the private TAED land given the land title in 2016.  So far no steps were taken to protect those buildings of heritage value. So it can be said that RM90m is wasted public fund and no improvement to TAB was undertaken so far.  I hope the relevant authorities should take TAED Sdn. Bhd to task for the poor state of affairs in TAB as expected of the land owner.

Until the full facts of the massive funder are disclosed, it is unjust to speculate over this possibility.

If it is China or any country to come up with RM4 billons, how would Sabah propose to pay back such finance given the current state of financial affairs in Sabah vis-à-vis Federal Government?

So it is premature to do anything with TAED in case we may lose almost everything in TAB as every funder would take advantage of the prime land like TAB which is worth anything up to RM30billions. We must avoid such land grab at all costs.  Sabah has lost too much to outsiders and yet we have not learnt anything.

Meanwhile, I have conveyed to CM a revenue scheme where a loophole in the administration of federal revenue can allow the nation to recover massive revenue going into billions of Ringgit and hopefully Sabah would be allocated a substantial amount like 45% for my special initiative in this undertaking to be implemented successfully within two years.

With the setup of the proposed Sabah Sovereign Wealth Fund (SSWF), we can carry out much improvement in Sabah’s infrastructure ourselves with internal fund to generate much more desired revenue for the people in Sabah.

Less haste to keep Sabah intact naturally.

Joshua Y C Kong23/10/2019

Gaya island needs much better transformation

Gaya island needs much better transformation

I refer to the article headed “Turn Gaya into island park: Harris” (DE 7 Oct) where he said that Gaya island be made an iconic island park without buildings or people staying overnight other than the security guards. He also suggested an electric train to serve the island park but he missed out mentioning a bridge to go with the train as shown in the picture in the said article.

We know Gaya island is very strategic location in Kota Kinabalu since time immemorial and the water way has served the KK city well with the  harbour and port city taking shape into another zone of tourism businesses with several high density buildings and cruise ships wharf plus the  international convention centre soon to be open next year.

So there will be much more traffic between KK city and the Gaya island with those upcoming developments at the former port area.

Lets think again a bridge into Gaya island as an island park and not a resort devoid of inhabitants as suggested by the exCM is contradictory to keeping the island pristine again.  With the bridge possibly also for vehicles possibly for thousands of vehicles daily, where would these vehicles be parked there?  If the bridge is only for the electric training, would that be running automatically twenty four hours daily?  I think instead of the restricting and expensive bridge that can bring thousands of vehicles to pollute the environment of the island park, it is a better option for a very good and regular ferry services (more jobs opportunities) by various sizes of ferry ships. Once the bridge is in place there, movements in the water way could be inhibited and potentials thereof much diminished. The experience of travelling in a regular and reliable ferry would be an enjoyable time well worth the journey to and fro the island instead of the small boats serving travellers at the present moment.  The same ferry service can also move around the island for sightseeing.

To keep the island park pristine again, we need to act on the re-location of the squatter people and demolish the quarters/houses plus a great deal of work to clean up the whole area including the black water between KK City and the Gaya Island.  It is very important that we can clean up the area and to bring back the coral, coral fishes and sea foods once abundant.

I think the money to transform the area into a very much desired iconic and enjoyable site would be available for the special exercise including re-locating the local residents in Gaya Island to the mainland. Some of these people can come back to serve in the ferry service and maintain the island pristine for the increasing tourists and local alike.

There is no longer any excuse to delay the transformation of Gaya Island.

Joshua Y C Kong 18/10/2019

Is Sabah’s security in the high sea really matter to Malaysia?

Is Sabah’s security in the high sea really matter to Malaysia?

The Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) was established for the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone), a Malaysian security area that covers 1,400km of the east coast of Sabah from Kudat to Tawau.

It was established by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and announced on March 7, 2013 by Musa Aman, the Sabah Chief Minister. Its purpose is to strengthen maritime security in the eastern part of Sabah following the persistent attacks by pirates and militants in the southern Philippines especially after the 2013 stand-off at Lahad Datu, while at the same time ensuring that trade and business activity are not affected.

The Esscom headquarters and main bases are in Lahad Datu and other eastern towns.

It has been observed that Esscom has incurred a few billion ringgit of assets and operational costs for almost four years without much results as intended despite a curfew in Esszone for the same period.

Despite such massive costs in dealing with our coastal security including two submarines largely stationed in Sepanggar naval base plus the regular high altitude flights by military jets based in Labuan, piracies and kidnappings are still with us in the seas between Sabah and Phillipines, not to mention regular illegal trades of controlled and banned wild life items.

Don’t we have accesses to technologies to deal with such intrusions to commit crimes in our coastal zones?  Don’t we need adequate system in place to control the passages of foreign vessels or rather speed boats into Sabah’s eastern water? We have to be the upper hands to deter and frustrate whatever “Trojan horses” already in Sabah.

We must address the entry points in eastern water zone or Esszone for better control of movement of foreigners desirable or undesirable especially cross border bartered trade is now resumed. The porous border is no excuse for breaches in entries to Sabah.

All entries by any vessels especially speed boats or pump boats must be regulated at stipulated points with the help of floating PVC pipes as boundary in the open sea.  Also if wild animals can be tagged, why not all foreign vessels be subject to this system if they want to enter Sabah’s water. Any boats or speed boat engines if found untagged in Sabah’s water at all hours should be detained and confiscated after general adequate warnings.

I would also suggest that security posts near the coastline engage adequate dogs who work 24/7 daily and who can sense intrusions at a distance like the Indians military defends it faraway borders with the help of dogs.

Without such tough measures, would even moving the Lok Kawi Army camp to the east coast be really capable to properly handle those regular intrusions and crimes thereof?

Such tough measures must be in place to get the peace and security for local and tourists alike especially Sabah has some of the best diving hotspots in the world and must visits by foreigners.

When people in Esszone feel insecure for livelihood there, they are tempted to come to Kota Kinabalu and then cause much traffic congestion around the city in search of business here. All towns in Sabah must be given a chance to develop in peace and security for the overall economy to prosper.

Also the proposed Sabah Maritime Academy should also give priority to deal with the manpower to secure Esszone.                 Joshua Y C Kong 11/10/2019