UNTUK SIAPA TABUNG PENGANGKUTAN?

A Kadir Jasin

TAPI apa halnya dengan penduduk negeri-negeri lain, penduduk luar bandar, penduduk Sabah dan Sarawak?

Itulah yang menjadi pertanyaan apabila membaca berita muka satu Utusan Malaysia (UM) hari ini (16 Mar) yang memetik kenyataan Jabatan Perdana Menteri mengenai penubuhan tabung Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pengangkutan Awam.

Apakah wang RM4.4 bilion hasil daripada kenaikan harga minyak pada 28 Februari lalu itu akan dibelanjakan di Kuala Lumpur dan sekitarnya sahaja?

Menurut UM, tabung itu akan digunakan untuk mengintegrasikan dan memperluaskan sistem bas, LRT, monorel dan komuter yang buat masa ini hanya ada di Kuala Lumpur dan sekitarnya sahaja.

Kalau betullah laporan UM itu, jelaslah majoriti rakyat yang dibebankan dengan harga minyak petrol, diesel dan gas cecair petroleum (LPG) yang lebih tinggi itu tidak akan mendapat apa-apa pulangan, kecuali jikalau mereka berkunjung ke Kuala Lumpur atau sekitarnya.

Di mana Faedah Luar Bandar?

Apa halnya dengan pengangkutan awam di bandar-bandar lain dan di kawasan-kawasan luar bandar? Apa halnya dengan Sarawak dan Sabah di mana masih banyak rakyat jelata yang tidak ada jalan raya atau masih bersampan dan berakit?

Bercakap tentang Bumiputera yang berupa penduduk majoriti negara kita ini, sebarang dasar yang berbentuk Kuala Lumpur-centric atau urban-centric tidak akan menguntungkan mereka kerana majoriti daripada mereka tinggal di luar bandar – di Pekan, Kepala Batas, Pagoh, Kanowit dan Kinabatangan.

Kalau sebahagian jumlah ini dibelanjakan di luar bandar, bukan sahaja Bumiputera akan mendapat faedah, malah lebih banyak kontraktor Bumiputera berpeluang mendapat kontrak.

Dengan itu, berlakulah pengagihan kekayaan dan peluang ekonomi yang lebih baik yang berupa falsafah pokok Dasar Ekonomi Baru yang diilhamkan oleh Allahyarham Tun Abdul Razak.

Kalau inilah gambaran mengenai apa yang akan datang, kita bimbang Rancangan Malaysia Kesembilan mungkin tidak menjanjikan keadilan kepada rakyat terbanyak.

Cukuplah kita membangunkan Kuala Lumpur dengan projek-projek meganya. Kuala Lumpur sudah cukup sesak. Sudah menjurus ke arah urban ghetto. Eloklah beri keutamaan kepada kawasan luar bandar dan negeri-negeri miskin macam Sabah, Kelantan, Kedah, Terengganu dan Perlis (lihat carta di bawah).

( Sumber: Dewan Masyarakat )

To Gag or Not To Gag

NO gag order on MPs, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (The Star, March 14). The MPs, he said, were free to debate all issues, including hot topics.

And what can be hotter than the 18.52 per cent fuel price increase!

But, in the first place, does it require the Prime Minister’s go-ahead for MPs to exercise their legitimate democratic right to speak up on behalf of their constituents?

There have been conflicting signals in recent past. In a number of instances and over some issues, the Barisan Nasional MPs were limited in their ability to debate openly.

They were even more restricted when it came to voting on critical bills like the recent amendments to the Federal Territory Islamic Family Law. Now the PM is sending another signal – debate openly.

I have always thought that people formed political parties to fight for common good. They fielded candidates in elections to win seats in the Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies.

In those chambers, the MPs and State Assemblymen and women would speak freely in defence of the people they represent – the voters and the rakyat in general.

But more often than not in our Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies, they tend to represent the party they belong to and speak in defence of the party and its leaders.

When they are not doing that, they’re either in the canteen having teh tarik or making monkey of the august chambers.

Oh, how I miss the debate involving Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the late Tan Sri Ja’afar Albar aka The Lion of Umno and the late C.V. Devan Nair in the Malaysian Parliament in the late 1970s!

Listen To The King

No wonder we now need the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and Sultans to remind our elected representatives of their duties to the people and about the country’s sagging global rating, like the King did when opening the new session of Parliament on March 13.

Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Syed Putra Jamalullail said serious attention must be given to reports that Malaysia’s global competitiveness was declining.

He said he was concerned about such reports. One issue highlighted in the reports, the King said, was the decline in the public service delivery system and its effects on the country’s competitiveness.

(Ironically, a major pro-government English newspaper decided to give the story a miss. It said not a word about the King opening the new Parliament session – not even a caption story.)

Source: The Star

Death of Idealism and Fire in the Belly

Not all our MPs and State Assemblymen and women hailed from the circus. Many are highly qualified men and women who excelled in their previous occupations. Some entered politics with a lot of idealism and fire in their bellies.

But once in the Parliament and the Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN), many lost their idealism and the fire in their bellies died. Some degenerated to become circus clowns.

Yet, when by chance, I met and spoke to them, I found, to my surprise, that they are intelligent and serious. That sets me thinking. There must be something about the Parliament and the DUN that makes these good men and women lose their intelligence and idealism.

Could it be mortal fear of the Whips? Could it be their dreams of becoming Ministers, Menteris Besar and Exco Members? Or could it be the prospects of bidding for prized contracts?

So I don’t know if the green light given by the Prime Minister would rekindle their idealism and relit the fire in their bellies. We’ll have to wait and see.