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Sabah: Drought and food shortages in Sabah

The Sabah state government ignores the drought, food shortages, the haze, the open fires as reports from the state suggest a gravity that can redound on it. The little news from Kota Kinabalu suggest the chief minister, Dato' Seri Yong Teck Lee, is oblivious to it all. Even the deputy chief minister (and possibly chief-minister soon), Dato' Joseph Kurup, state assemblymen and assistant ministers help in their personal capacity than as part of the state apparatus. Why? The starvation and drought is serious enough for the New Straits Times, on Saturday, to report it in stark detail. In some places, the drought enhances the starvation, with the lackadaisicalness of government agencies beggaring belief. Scant help comes from voluntary bodies, the federal Yayasan Salam, KFC, the fried chicken people, with state help, except for its staff, nonexistent, say those most affected. Yet, Dato' Seri Yong rejects federal help, as federal welfare services minister, Datin Zaleha Ismail, pointed out. Why?

The open fires, for which we not long ago blamed Indonesia, is so prevalent that it is no longer unusual. Pilots flying over Sabah talk of so many fires, many caused by the drought, that it is not funny. A West Malaysian engineer could see, from his hotel room in Labuan, fires burning from mountain tops, as he did earlier from Kota Kinabalu. His flight back was delayed by haze, which cancelled flights. The haze is so bad for visibility to be reduced to tens of feet. But the Air Pollutant Index (API) cannot be confirmed because crucial measuring equipment is faulty, or so we are told. As I write this, Kuala Lumpur itself is enveloped in haze, which despite the rain, reduces visibility. In West Malaysia, the serious problem is the watershortage, and therefore the haze rate a low priority.

But this does not explain the Sabah government's indifference. (Nor for that matter, the Sarawak government's. Whatever happened to those haze experts that the chief minister, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, chartered a plane to collect from the United States on the day there was a haze emergency in the state last year?) Why does Sabah government ignore the emergency, possibly its worst since Malaysia Day in 1963? Since the National Front in Sabah surely expect to return to office in the coming elections soon, why then this indifference?

M.G.G. Pillai
pillai@mgg.pc.my