S A B A H O N L I N E

Putt For Change

ALL ThESEE WHILE, Barisan Nasional (left) politicians and government leaders in the state had been denying (through their teeth) and ignoring the fact that Sabahans have been living in darkness since Sabah Electricity Board (SEB) became Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB).

But this is no longer the case now when recently two state BN component party leaders publicly, courageously and repeatedly proclaimed that in fact, they too “were in the dark”.

Yes, that’s right, they too were “in the dark“. They are none other than the Moyog Assemblyman cum State Assistant Finance Minister, Datuk Donald Mojuntin (below left) and his party (UPKO) boss Tan Sri Bernard Dompok (below right), who is also the MP for Penampang cum Federal Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister.

They proclaimed this separately when commenting on the controversy over the proposed construction of the RM2.8 billion Kaiduan dam project near Papar. In other words, they have claimed ignorance over the implementation of the project following a strong protest from the affected villages who feared that once the project is implemented and completed, their villages (around 11 of them) and all their heritage, dreams and future would be submerged in water.

But, a random survey conducted by me in every nook and corner of Penampang District and Kota Kinabalu City somehow shows that the public were not at all convinced but rather amused by their “ignorance” claim. Several of them even unanimously and cheekily described it as the “Decepti-con Syndrome” a newly-discovered syndrome named after the comic characters “Decepticons” in the blockbuster movies – the Transformer I & II which possess the elements of ‘deception’ and ‘con’, which is said to be worse than the “denial syndrome” which had long infected most of the BN politicians and those rogue civil servants in the civil service.

The respondents were not convinced with Dompok and Mojuntin’s ignorance claim as they recalled that this was not the first time they had heard of such claims. They cited the RM100 mil Kimanis Oil and Gas Terminal project for example where, at one stage Dompok was even seen to be critical and vocal about it, but eventually not only did he fizzle out but also accepted and endorsed the project, and unconditionally at that. Can someone come forward to prove otherwise?

Among the respondents were the affected villagers who were suspicious of the conspicuous absence of both Dompok and Mojuntin during the ritual of the Pitouan Tonduk or “Batu Sumpah” (curse stone) (left) conducted by the villagers in Kg Timpayasa two weeks ago, seeking the help of the spirits of their ancestors to safeguard their villages from harm’s way, in particular the dam project.

They said if both of them were truly ignorant about the dam project, they should have then made all efforts to attend the ritual, instead of avoiding it and then instructing the Penampang District Office to summon the villagers to attend a dialogue with the District Officer William Sampil (right). Are they (Dompok & Mojuntin) feeling guilty or running scared?

The villagers reiterated that they may be able to accept their ‘ignorance claim’ if the project involved was an insignificant drain construction project, but this one is a mega project which involves many government departments and agencies, coupled with the fact that it has been approved by the State Cabinet and announced by the then Infrastructures Development Minister cum former Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah (left).

“We may not be highly-educated, but we’re certainly not fools or born just yesterday,” they stressed.

A political analyst who is well-versed with “kaki-lima” medicine peddling comented that this was defnitely a serious case of Ignorance-citis, which is prevalent and reaching epidemic proportions among local politicians. He said this illness was due to the fact that these politicians felt the local population was very naive and claiming ignorance would deflect all blame away from them. These politicians believed that ignorance was bliss but are having serious problems due to their claims being stripped naked by the internet and blogging community.

The threat from the net community is so serious that soon many such politicians might be forced to give up their elected seats and look for permanent toilet seats.