Impian Sarawak: Running Water is a Basic Right

Remember the several days of water shortage in Klang Valley? Not having running water is surely a pain to many of us. Nevertheless, in many native villages in Sarawak, tap water is a luxury. 

If it doesn't rain for 3 days, villagers will have to get water from the nearby river, to bath and do laundry there.

The whole Kampung Sait was asked to shift by the government 2 years ago to a higher ground to give way to the construction of Bengoh Dam, which will serve as a water reservoir to the town, sending water to the taps in town when needed. 

Here is a picture of Bengoh Dam under construction. 

Ironically, it is this most affected group of people from the construction of Bengoh Dam that is deprived of running water. Bengoh Dam is about RM 60 million and a gravity water feed system that will make running water possible for every household in Kampung Sait only cost about RM25,000. It is a pure injustice.

There are many other similar stories around Sarawak.

Running water is not a privilege but a basic right. Let’s return water right to our fellow Malaysians in Sarawak. Sarawak and Malaysia deserve a better government. Change will not be possible without Pakatan Rakyat going to the ground and running small projects that give tangible benefits to the rural Sarawak. This is what Impian Sarawak campaign is all about. 

Our first rural project is to build gravity water feed system at Kampung Sait. If you have time, please join as volunteer. For more information about the campaign, visit us at: www.impiansarawak.com. 

Impian Sarawak: Lights that Give Them Brighter Future

Before I came to Kampung Sait I thought my childhood was tough, no more after I met with Victoria, Cynthia and Redina here.  Believe it or not, these 3 girls in the picture always face with the possibility of doing their school works in darkness.  

Victoria, Cynthia and Redina (from left to right) and I. :) 

As many other native settlements in Sarawak, Kampung Sait is not connected to electrical grid for electricity. They have to use generator to power up their houses. So it is very common that many families still use candles and oils lamps at night. For the family that can afford generators, they normally can only afford to turn on the generator for a few hours at night, usually 7pm-10pm. 

For your information, while many of the villagers earn just a few hundreds per month, they need to pay so much more for electricity – the electricity generated from a diesel generator is about 40% more expensive per kWh than electricity we obtain in the city from the grid. There are times when the family is cash tight and can't afford diesel in that particular days, these girls need to study with their oil lamps. 

How in 2013 that Malaysian children are still deprive of the proper lighting to study? I believe everyone in this nation, regardless of the family income, should be entitled with equal opportunity to excel - that is, if they work hard enough, they will be able to be successful and achieve their dreams. With that, I believe every leader in this nation should work hard to ensure that the children get proper lighting to study. Sometimes leadership is not about complicated policies, it's about providing the most basic needs to the most neglected group in the country. 

The Barisan Nasional government did at once do rural electricity project at Kampung Sait by installing solar panels in the whole village. However, most of the solar panels were broken in less than a month and now none in the village was functioning. So these solar panels you see in the pictures are all not functioning. Believe me, this solar panel project is an expensive project and you need no further explanation to know who benefited from this project.  

I still remember the night I spent in Kampung Sait without electricity. It was dark, I needed to put torch by my side so I could use it if I need to go to toilet or somewhere in the middle of the night. The heat and the mosquitoes made getting into sleep, hmmmm, very difficult.  Of course, I didn’t sleep well that night.

I hope that with micro hydro-electric dam project and maintenance by the villagers (we'll allocate fund to their tabung managed by a committee), we can light up the many similar native villages for long term without putting financial burden to the people. 

I hope that the likes of Victoria, Cynthia and Redina can go home from school every day knowing that if they need to do their schoolwork at night, they can do it in brightness.  Let us bring light to their nights and henceforth bring lights to the future the children in Sarawak rural areas.

Change in Malaysia will not be possible without change in Sarawak, change in Sarawak will not be possible without a change of mindset of rural Sarawak, change of mindset will not be possible without Pakatan Rakyat going to the ground and give tangible benefits to the people. 

This is what Impian Sarawak is all about. For more information, visit: www.impiansarawak.com. 

Impian Sarawak: Endless Possibilities BN Style

Another village that I visited was Kampung Tanjung Batu. 

Here at Kampung Tanjung Batu, electric poles and terminals were installed 4 months before GE13 and the village was promised to be connected to grid electricity if they voted for Barisan Nasional. Now, many months after the election, there is still no electricity in the village. So the electric poles that you see in the picture here is actually 'empty'. In my later conversation with other village chiefs from Sri Aman, I found that such 'empty' poles are common in villages across Sarawak. This is definitely a good example of endless possibilities BN-style. 

"Empty" Electric Pole at Kampung Tanjung Batu

"Empty" Electric Pole at Kampung Tanjung Batu

"Empty" Electric Terminal at Kampung Tanjung Batu

"Empty" Electric Terminal at Kampung Tanjung Batu

For villages that are not connected to grid, many of the villagers are using generator to power up their house whereas the less fortunate ones continue on their life without electricity. Picture below show a typical diesel generator used by the villagers. For your information, while many of the villagers earn just a few hundreds per month, they need to pay so much more for electricity – the electricity generated from a diesel generator is about 40% more expensive per kWh than electricity we obtain in the city from the grid.

Diesel Generator 

We asked this man in the picture about what he thinks about the electric poles. Initially he said he was confident that the pole will be connected to the grid one day. I was surprised and asked further. Then he continued with this - the 'one day' will come 2 years later during the state election. Well, how true, how sad. 

In a state as rich as Sarawak, electricity should not be a privilege but a right. Sarawak and Malaysia deserve a better government. Change will not be possible without Pakatan Rakyat going to the ground and running small projects that give tangible benefits to the rural Sarawak.  

This is what Impian Sarawak is all about. Please support our campaign. For more information about the campaign, visit us at: www.impiansarawak.com. 

Impian Sarawak My New Friend

One of the villages I visited during my Sarawak visit was Kampung Tanjung Batu. There’s no running water there. The villagers need to bath and do laundry here at this river in the picture. Can you find a Barisan Nasional flag hanging upside down in the picture? :) 

The villagers here leave their laundry detergent by the side of the river so they don't need to carry them everyday to do laundry. While we are so used to using washing machine, in another part of Malaysia, there are people that still need to do laundry by the side of the river. 

Mordi (picture below), who was the candidate for Mas Gading and my ‘tour guide’ while I was visiting Kampung Tanjung Batu, told me that the first time he saw that people still need to bath and laundry in the river, he cried. He has been serving in the area for more than 2 years. He recalled that during the election, the Barisan Nasional people mocked him saying, “you work for 2 years but we only need to work for 3 days (to give away election goodies)”. Indeed, he lost the election in GE13. 

However, I am confident that he’ll be elected one day. The moment he told me he cried for the people, I knew in my heart that this is the kind of leader that the community need badly. All we need to do is to make sure he gets elected in the next election.

Mordi, the compassionate leader.

Ladies and gentlemen, we need to support people like Mordi to bring hope to this nation. Being in rural constituency means he needs to deliver tangible benefits to the people to break the mindset that only Barisan Nasional has the ability to deliver (albeit they deliver on right before election). We need to create wind of change in the rural area of Sarawak. 

This is what Impian Sarawak is all about. Please support our campaign. For more information about the campaign, visit us at: www.impiansarawak.com.