==> Pls visit new site at http://malaysia-today.net/ <==

The truth is stranger than the fiction. When we say poor, we are actually using money as a yardstick. The rural areas of Sabah have not fully entered the money economy and hence, they are considered poor.

How rich are those in the money economy anyway, especially those in the estate sector? Not much better off than those in the non-money economy. Who wants the modern-day slavery of the estates? The Tamils slaved for nearly 200 years in the estates of Peninsular Malaysia and are still as poor as ever, worse off than the people in the rural areas of Sabah and Sarawak.

People in the rural areas of Sabah may not have much money but they are well-fed, self-sufficient and self-reliant. They don't have to call anybody "Tuan" as in the estates in Peninsular Malaysia. Do they have to worry about the rising prices of rice and chicken?

The key to the development of the rural economy in Sabah is not through the development of plantations but by maintaining the independence of the small farmer, the provision of rural credit and help with marketing and market access.

The kind of so-called "development", all artificial, and traffic jams and estates that came to Peninsular Malaysia should be kept away from Sabah.

Meanwhile, parts of rural Sarawak remind me of British Malaya when I was still a toddler. It's like going back in time. I hope things stay that way. Materialism is not the be all and end all of life.

What is important is that the structure of rural life and society must be preserved. The urbanisation of the rural areas must happen at an organic rate. Otherwise, we will witness the same spectacle as in Africa, where the rural sector has been destroyed by globalisation and rural-urban migration. If only Africans stayed on the land and farmed it like their forefathers, they wouldn't be starving and leaving in boatloads for Europe.

http://fernzjoefernandez.********.com

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 18

Do you know that Sports Toto,Magnum and Damacai are also operating in Sabah ?

report abuse

disagree 1

agree 6

Mr/Ms Fernz - good write up.

We need to preserve the kampung as much as we can whilst providing good health care, modern amenities, updating/marketing their agri capabilities/products, and basic education in their localities. They may be poor in CASH but as pointed out - never hungry. With some luck their std of living will increase as well if we give them real help instead of handouts at election time.

The plantation owners are "rich" - Malays and Chinese and evidently they are also reasonably generous. Unfortunately majority of Chinese and Malays and especially the Class 2 Bumis (Kadazans, Dusuns) are just making ends meet - ok the Muruts are doing a little better perhaps with better Kampung infrastructure and a little bonus at election time.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 6

People in the rural areas of Sabah may not have much money but they are well-fed, self-sufficient and self-reliant.

El-oh-el

Are you kidding? Have you been to the Sabahan interior? I do not only see how people are barely surviving in some areas in Sabah, but my mom and my uncle (who do some sort of charity work) have first hand experience in helping these people with buying food, clothes, medicine, etc.

They are not well-fed. They may be self-reliant in trying to make ends meet but that does not meet they are successful in doing so. About 2 years or a year back a young boy (in Ranau I think it was) committed suicide because his family was so poor, he thought he'd lighten the family's burden so they'd have one mouth less to feed.

In the urban areas there are tons of rich people (KK, Penampang), and the author was referring to the amount of money collected for charity - and these donations are made by the people with money in the urban areas, and not by the poor people in the interior.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 10

*typo above 'but that does not mean'

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 0

Im not against we extending helping hands to foreign country(s) when they're faced with some sort of tragedy.
But it has always been my concern that Malaysian at large are prone to helping out outsider than their own people. In this case the inner kampung Sabahan.
Its like trying to bend your fingers out so hard, instead of bending it in easily.

Are these organisations trying to get media attention, or world acknowledgement, or simply, after getting the monies, it will be handed over to the victims lesser than collected?

Malaysian government, companies, organisations, even NGOs would be running on fast track to set up collection funds when any disaster took place, in or out of the country.

We know about how the funds for Tsunami collected for Acheh reached millions of ringgit but those victims in our own shores were not given the help that they actually needed.
I remember one minister or deputy so happily handing over rm500 per family and they'd be 'granted' help to get loan to repair their ruined boats, the medium for their livelihood. What the heck?

Why in the hell should you be donating to Acheh that much of money when you can channel the help to your own people? There's a saying "Kera di hutan disusukan, anak dirumah mati kelaparan" .

My opinion; there will always be one aim in all these collections; chanelling some of the money to certain pockets first, donating second.

Malaysia memang boleh.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 8

I must also disagree with Frenz to a certain degree-levels of malnutrition, especially in the Kudat region put us all to shame with mother's feeding babies water because they cannot afford to buy milk. Fernz story is however, not inaccurate, just incomplete as there are villages doing well, not so well, and downright poorly.

Neither is the blog work entirely accurate-as the author him/herself states, the story is based on Daily Express and the Star's collection-in the peninsular I gather there are many more organisations to donate too; I recall growing up it was always really just the Daily Express, which is more than just a paper to Sabahans.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 5

fernzjoefernandez,

What happens when these 'estate workers' are marginalized?

The Tamil estate workers of the Peninsular would have continued working in the estates for another 200 years if things did not change, but one by one, the estates were selling out - new townships were taking over estates, the greed for faster returns on their lands took the better of estate owners.

The sold out and left the estate workers high and dry, lost in a world where they have no clue, how to survive. Leave them alone? Yes, but can you assure us that these estates will go on forever? And if these estates sell-out, can you assure us these workers are well taken care off?

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 3

ITs the blood..... when ever you are a nature born Leecher, such as the UMNOs, you are allways wellcome to the Umno family.

Suck as much as you can...... As there wont be another future for the leecher.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 3

Leaders in the local community plus the ministry must adopt the same standard of measurement of economic status. Otherwise evryone is painting at different yardsticks. Some say they rich, some say they are below poverty line, then who draws the line? Obviuously the State Department or the relevant minsitry. It goes to show how backward we are if today we are still not clear of our own country.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 2

A very rich tan sri could hv coughed out 99% of the donation la. Especially from ill-gotten gains.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 4

Semut di seberang laut nampak, gajah di depan mata tak nampak. This is the story of Malaysia. Why cant we learn to clean /prepare our own houses before looking abroad i.e. helping locals first. If each one of us can donate just a small sum like even RM10/- a month, we can help save the standards of thousand of people in Malaysia. We just need the right/honest bodies to run this centres. But the problem with us is, we always want other people to do it for us.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 2

Looks like HantuLaut is missing the point here. Being poor, in material terms, doesn't mean that you cannot be generous at heart. And being poor doesn't stop one from donating. In fact, the relatively poorer people is more kind hearted and generous than the relatively richer ones, as shown by HantuLaut's simple-minded stats from the 2 donation drives. If fact, if you go to any rural kampungs in Malaysia, you will find the poor folks are more willing to help out than the relatively well-to-do ones. I believe this is universal. Any wonder why some rich people have their nose at their foreheads, like the round garbage bag named ros.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 1

vineeth, are you aki nabalu in sabahforum.com? are you sabahan? where does sabahan get all the money? it's from the heart, even if we are poor, there are people unluckier than us. we chipped out of our meagre monthly salary, to these unfortunate people in myanmar and sichuan.

and elfiejane is right, she's right about the boy who committed suicide for shame of his family poverty. not that i condone what he did, committing suicide is the most irresponsible horrible thing to do, it brings long suffering and pain for your loved ones. moreover it's a sin. but you cannot help but ponder, why did he commit suicide? why his family is poor?

for those who have not been to sabah, or you've only seen kk. don't tell me that you know sabah. because you don't.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 3

Of course it couldnt possibly have something to do with religion

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 2

Fernz,
Yes they are not part of the monetized economy, but have been robbed of their traditional econony, robbed of their land and rivers. UNDP has just confimed that 23% are suffering acute poverty.
It is the same in the "rich" state of Terengganu.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 0

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT MALAYSIA 2007 - World Human Rights.
At least 10 people died in police custody in 2007. Despite continuing reports of such deaths and of excessive use of force against peaceful demonstrations, the Malaysian government failed to implement key recommendations for police reform. Scores of people were detained without trial under various emergency laws. Restrictions on freedom of religion continued. Grievances felt by many among the ethnic Indian Malaysian minority community, including discrimination and economic marginalization, were aggravated by the destruction of reportedly unauthorized Hindu temples. Mandatory death sentences continued to be issued. Refugees and migrant workers were arbitrarily detained and assaulted during immigration raids.

read more at: http://malaysianindian1.blogsp...aysia.html

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 0

Being a sabahan myself I can relate to the poverty mentioned. It's a matter of income gap and the number of people living in poverty... the rich are filthy rich while the poor are at rock bottom, most have even started to dig, similar to the philippines. The slums in the west pale in comparison to sabah. One would need to have lived in both east and west in order to understand.

Case in point, I've heard 'wonderful' tales from truckers passing through rural areas whereby they only have to spend RM100 for a local girl to spend an ENTIRE week with him.

The fact is, Sabah is a broken down state, we have been trampled on by foreigners and west m'sian policies so long that we have lost our identity, our cultures, our resources, economy... and our sense of direction. We are not stupid, we know what's going on, its like being tied in our own homes and forced to watch as the robbers rob us and rape the women. In a state where illegals outnumber us by twice the number coupled by project IC, and the rural areas where information flow is virtually nil, people still wonder why sabah gave BN the majority, its probably obvious how that came to be right? Why do you think the government is so anxious to take care of the IMM13 holders, providing amneties, housing and education while giving the middle finger to us real citizens?

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 1