DAP launches <b>Sabah</b> Dream - The Borneo Post Online Berita Sabah - News 2 Sabah |
| DAP launches <b>Sabah</b> Dream - The Borneo Post Online Posted: 27 Nov 2013 10:15 AM PST
The first project under the movement will target a village under the Kota Marudu seat, which was previously won by Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili with just a 842-vote majority. "We were able to 'destroy' the 'fixed deposit' moniker for Johor and Sarawak, by increasing our votes received significantly … However, for Sabah, we were only able to increase our votes by 3.4 per cent to 35.9 per cent," DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang told reporters at the launching here. "Hence, it is undeniable that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) must pull out all the stops to increase our electoral support in the state with 26 parliamentary seats, including Labuan." "Impian Sabah" is the second project under the larger "Impian Malaysia" project and after "Impian Sarawak", which was launched in September aimed at capturing rural Sarawak. Despite targeting 33 parliamentary seats from the Johor, Sarawak and Sabah — the three states that helped keep a weakened ruling coalition in power in the last polls — PR only managed to secure 14 seats. Of the three states, PR won only three parliamentary seats in Sabah — Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, and Penampang — with the first two won by DAP. The first outreach project in Sabah will be a RM25,000 gravity-feed water system at Kampung Samparita Laut in Kota Marudu, where over 200 of its Dusun villagers have no access to piped water and currently depend on the murky river nearby. The village falls under Kota Marudu, won by Ongkili in the May polls after a four-cornered fight involving DAP, Sarawak-based State Reform Party (STAR), and Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP). "If not for the splitting of votes with STAR, PR would have own the seat. Hence, every effort must be made in these marginal seats so as to ensure that PR will win these seats in the next general election," Lim added. However, DAP denied yesterday that it will only be carrying out projects in areas where BN won with minor majorities in the May polls, stressing that its main agenda is to deliver their promises to the rural areas. "I think votes are secondary …We do make full use of our efforts to assist the people of Sabah. We believe votes will come if you do well. We're less concerned about votes today, more concerned about actually delivering what we promised," said Tony Pua, the DAP national publicity chief. According to Pua, the second project will be done in Tenom, the parliamentary seat won by Umno's Datuk Raime Unggi by a 3,886-vote majority in the 13th General Election. PR's representative was PKR's Masdin Tumas, who won 5,885 votes. Sabah DAP chairman and Kota Kinabalu MP Jimmy Wong, Sabah DAP secretary and Kapayan assemblyman Dr Edwin Bosi, Sabah DAP assistant secretary and Likas assemblyman Junz Wong, Sandakan MP Stephen Wong and Sri Tanjong assemblyman Chan Foong Hin, Sibu MP Oscar Ling Chai Wai and Serdang MP Dr Ong Kian Ming were present at the launching. Wong said DAP would explore, study and identify critical programmes and projects that need to be carried out in Sabah to uplift the well-being of the rural and poor villagers. "We will organise teams of members and volunteers to penetrate these remote villages to undertake projects such as micro-hydro electric dams to provide electricity, gravity feed water systems, repair works on basic infrastructure such as roads and bridges as well as economic upliftment programmes via sustainable sources of income," he said after the launching of the program. He said Impian Malaysia agents are required to take part as volunteers in these programmes to bring significant changes to the livelihood of these villagers. The participation of Impian Malaysia agents in the campaign will make an immense difference to these people, the Kota Kinabalu member of parliament said. "We will be kicking off the first Impian Sabah project this weekend to build a gravity-feed water system at Kampung Samparita Laut, Kota Marudu, a village that is about a three-hour drive from Kota Kinabalu, including an hour of off-road driving," he said. According to Wong, Kampung Samparita has a population of more than 200 people who have no access to piped water. These villagers rely on the main river source for drinking, washing, and cleaning. "In fact, they don't even have toilets because the villagers said there isn't any point in having toilets if there isn't any water. The average drinking water colour looks like Nescafe susu and during rainy days, when the colour turns to 'Nescafe kurang susu', they will collect the rainwater for drinking. With this project, we hope to be able to provide running water to the whole village," he said. Wong said the project would involve two batches of volunteers from November 30 to December 8 and December 12 to December 21. The volunteers will be staying with the villagers, assisting to connect pipes, burying pipes, cement work, and all work related to building a gravity water feed system. 'Impian Malaysia' or the Malaysian Dream is a movement started by Kit Siang in May after the 13th General Election that envisions a plural society where all her citizens are united as one people, rising above their ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic differences as the common grounds binding them as one citizenship exceed the differences that divide them because of their ethnic, religious, linguistic and cultural divisions. The movement hopes to gather more Malaysian volunteers (including non-party members) to be 'Impian Malaysia' agents for its activities and programs to promote Malaysian identity and consciousness particularly among the young generation of Malaysians. In September 2013, DAP had successfully launched the first pillar of the movement – 'Impian Sarawak' – and has completed several projects, involving nearly 40 'Impian Malaysia agents'. Impian Malaysia agents who cannot take part directly can certainly take part in this thrust by attending fund-raising dinners or donating online via https://dapmalaysia.org/donate. They may even run their own fund-raising activities.  To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.  |
| Masing calls on federal government to clarify stand on 'Allah <b>...</b> Posted: 07 Jan 2014 11:39 AM PST KUCHING: The debate over the use of the term 'Allah' by non-Muslims will escalate if the federal government does not make a clear stand and resolve the issue once and for all. This view was expressed by Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing yesterday, who regarded the matter as sensitive and a political problem which would not simply disappear. Masing, who is also Land Development Minister, was commenting on a statement by PAS information chief Datuk Mahfuz Omar that the National Fatwa Council take a stand on the use of the word 'Allah', considering the discrepancies in the permission to use it in Sabah and Sarawak and disallowing its use in Peninsular Malaysia which would lead to confusion and to stop negative perception of Islam. "It is most interesting to know that it is PAS, not BN (Barisan Nasional), which decides to 'take the bull by the horn' on the usage of the 'Kalimah Allah' issue. Political problems do not simply disappear. They tend to snowball if we don't solve them immediately," he told The Borneo Post when contacted. Speaking at a press conference at PAS headquarters on Monday, Mahfuz also said confusion would arise from the two sets of rules whereby Christians in East Malaysia are allowed to use the word whereas it is completely barred for their counterparts in the Peninsula. "There are now two stands – with the religious authorities in Selangor saying it cannot be used but the non-Muslims in Sabah and Sarawak could use it. The people want to know whether the stand of Jais (Selangor Islamic Religious Department) is the correct standpoint in line with Islamic teachings or should the religious agency follow the rules set by the federal government," he said. On PAS' stand on the matter, Mahfuz said the party still held to the decision made by the Syura Council that the usage of the term 'Allah' by Christians was permitted as long as they did not abuse it. The call by PAS came to light following public outcry on the raid on the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) by Jais last week. During the raid at Damansara, Petaling Jaya, a total of 310 copies of Bibles in Bahasa Malaysia (Al-Kitab), 20 copies in the Iban language (Bup Kudus) and 20 copies of Luke's Gospel in Bahasa Malaysia were seized from BSM premises by Jais personnel. Putrajaya's 10-point solution issued by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's administration in 2011 allowed the Christian community to print, import and distribute copies of the Bible containing the word 'Allah'. It further allowed Christians in Sabah and Sarawak to use the Arabic word 'Allah' to describe God. In October last year, Najib said the decision by the Appeals Court to disallow the use of the term 'Allah' did not apply to its usage in Sabah and Sarawak. To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from berita sabah - Google Blog Search To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |