» »Unlabelled » Re-align and fight for Sabah rights, Jeffrey tells ex-DAP leaders ... Berita Sabah - News 2 Sabah

11:12:00

Re-align and fight for <b>Sabah</b> rights, Jeffrey tells ex-DAP leaders <b>...</b> Berita Sabah - News 2 Sabah

Re-align and fight for <b>Sabah</b> rights, Jeffrey tells ex-DAP leaders <b>...</b>

Posted: 14 Jan 2014 11:08 AM PST

KOTA KINABALU: DAP leaders who have left the party should re-align and re-focus their political aim towards assisting in the fight for the restoration of Sabah rights, said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan.

The STAR Sabah chief said Sabahans should no longer rely on parties and leaders from the Peninsula to champion the cause for Sabah.

Their priorities are not Sabah's priorities and their agenda to gain power in Putrajaya does not necessarily entail Sabah's agenda. In fact, some of their priorities and agenda appear to conflict with those of Sabah's," he said.

Jeffrey contended that the federation of Malaysia is not a standardized and homogeneous federal-state relationship for the 11 States in the Peninsula and for Sabah and Sarawak. This is because Sabah and Sarawak are equal to Malaya not the states in Malaya.

"It's a 2-tier federation, the lower tier being the federation of Malaya with 11 States and the higher tier between Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak.

"As a result, a simplified two-party system will extinguish the rights and autonomy of Sabah, leaving Sabah and Sarawak as the 12th and 13th States forever," he asserted.

At the moment, he said, the Chinese community in Sabah are more focused on their businesses and career interests and are not strong advocates or supporters of Sabah's rights and autonomy.

He said the Chinese community needs to re-assess the situation and think about the future of their children and grandchildren in Sabah.

"They should not adopt the view that they can send their children overseas and then encourage them not to return home.

"Sabah is their homeland that their ancestors, grandparents and parents have helped build. They need to stand united with the other communities to seek the restoration of Sabah as an equal partner in Malaysia equal to Malaya and Sarawak. They need to help fight for the return of Sabah's oil and gas resources," he said.

Print Friendly

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.

Alarming TB cases among youths - The Borneo Post Online

Posted: 15 Jan 2014 11:04 AM PST

Reported cases sporadic across the state involving youths of different backgrounds

KUCHING: There has been an alarming increase in tuberculosis (TB) cases among youths in Sarawak over the last four years.

The state Health Department is closely monitoring the situation and to identify the causes behind the surge in those as young as 20.

"We are at a loss as to why there has been a resurgence of TB cases, especially among young people. It is an alarming situation and until now we have yet to identify the pattern, and this is perplexing to us," Assistant Minister of Public Health Datuk Dr Jerip Susil told The Borneo Post yesterday.

He said presently the cases reported were sporadic ones across the state and among youths of different backgrounds.

Although attempts have been made to identify the cluster of origin, gender and vocation, no clear pattern has emerged.

Dr Jerip speculated that the problem could be due to urban-rural migration, which resulted in crowded living conditions in squatter areas.

"As these are young patients, we also suspect that the spread of the disease could have happened at the workplace as we have a very young workforce," he said.

After Selangor and Sabah, Sarawak is the state with the most number of TB cases in the country.

In 2007, 1,703 TB cases were reported in Sarawak and this increased by a whopping 43 per cent to 2,430 cases in 2012.

Dr Jerip said one of the steps taken to halt the growing trend is more stringent monitoring over the entry of foreign workers.

"What we are worried about now is the entry of illegal foreign workers, who might end up in plantations or as maids for some families. As we all know, our boundary is very porous and it is not difficult to come over to our state as illegal workers.

"That is why we are also calling for cooperation from everyone in the state to help us to stop the entry of illegal workers or get them registered if they are already in the state to ensure that they go through proper medical check-ups," he said.

He explained that contact tracing has also been difficult in Sarawak.

"Contact tracing is the way to curb TB and we have been unable to do contact tracing due to the constant change of address.

"The best that we have achieved now is doing contact tracing for the next of kin. Even so, it has been quite difficult. To do contact tracing with the patients' colleagues or persons in contact has proven to be even more challenging," he said.

The Bengoh assemblyman added that the general increase in TB could also be due to improved records as TB cases could now be immediately registered.

He stressed that TB is very contagious and easily spread through close contact, urging those showing symptoms to seek immediate medical attention.

TB symptoms include chronic coughing, loss of appetite and weight, night sweats and high fever.

Print Friendly

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.

<b>Sabah</b> MCA plans ahead to regain lost ground – BorneoPost Online <b>...</b>

Posted: 12 Jan 2014 01:43 PM PST

KOTA KINABALU: Newly appointed Sabah MCA chairman, Wilfred Yong, has big plans to woo back the support of the Chinese community in Sabah for the party and Barisan Nasional (BN).

Yong, who was the State MCA Youth chief, said Sabah MCA will be working closely with the party's central leadership so that the plans to be implemented will be in sync and in tandem with the party's policies.

Speaking to reporters at the Sabah MCA headquarters in Plaza Menggatal here yesterday, Yong, who announced the new state lineup, said that the 14th general election will be tough and challenging for the party.

"The new line up is a balanced one between the seniors, younger and women members. Of course, we will be working hand in hand with the central leadership as Sabah MCA aims to be consistent with the central leadership's policy and strategy towards transformation.

"We also have concrete plans to win back the hearts of the Chinese community specifically the younger generation, which is a new equity in the voting system. So we need to strengthen our outreach programs to them, understand them and also make them understand our party's struggles and what we are actually doing for the Chinese community," Yong said.

Yong added that there are also plans for Sabah MCA to increase membership and this is in line with the central leadership policy to transform and to bring in more members.

"We therefore appeal to the Chinese community to please give this new team and myself as the new Sabah MCA chairman the chance… the opportunity to serve you all," he said.

To a question on what are his immediate plans as the state liaison chairman, Yong replied: "I have to sit down and think, reflect, brainstorm on the core pillars on how to work with the central leadership's policy, customize the policy to be more 'people friendly' and towards the needs of the Chinese community in Sabah.

"I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the President and Deputy President in appointing me as the new Sabah Liaison Chairman and also appointing Datuk Paul Kong into the Presidential Council and Chew Kok Woh as a central committee member," he said.

His predecessor, Datuk Edward Khoo, when asked to comment on Yong's appointment and if it is a trend for young leaders to now lead political parties in Malaysia, said that this is a natural development in the political arena.

"We do need young leaders especially in MCA's transformation. I have confidence in the new chairman to lead our party forward. We will work hand in hand with the central leadership in the matter of strategizing our party plans and transformation.

"It is good to see more young people leading parties. It is a natural development, its not a trend, is a natural development, younger people will regenerate the party. We will give our full support to work towards our goals and the successful implementation of all our programs as introduced by the new chairman," he said.

Former Sabah MCA deputy chief, Kong said he was of the opinion that MCA needs to move forward to face the new challenges ahead especially with the 14th general election whereby the party is planning to recapture the two seats it lost in the 13th general election.

"I have put my plan to win back the Kapayan seat which is under my division, in motion. A few days ago during our division meeting we have already appointed a few prominent Chinese leaders who are also successful businessmen to give us advice and provide us with resources to achieve what we set out to do.

"We will wholeheartedly give our new chairman our support in order for MCA to achieve breakthrough in the next general election," Kong, who is also Penampang MCA divisional chief, stressed.

Print Friendly

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.