5% OIL ROYALTY JUST ENOUGH TO IMPORT RICE?

Sabah DAP Wanita team visited Papar town recently to meet and find out more from the people in the area about the difficulties faced by them. The team was led by Noriah Onong with some of the senior DAP women members. They also distributed the special edition of the Bahasa Malaysia version of the ROCKET newsletter entitled 'HAK SABAH' to the people.

Onong felt very happy because the Papar folks is giving their full support towards Pakatan Rakyat and they wish that PR can represent them after the PRU 13. The people are not happy in Papar because there is no development and economy growth over the past many decades. They said the BN Government has forgotten about them totally.

Onong said she lives in the area and she shared the same view like them. She often travels around in the Papar District from Lok Kawi all the way to Pantai Manis, there is particularly no fast development can be seen.

The roads in the kampongs here are bad and had never been upgraded. The paddy fields here are left abandoned due to the lack of proper drainage and irrigation system. Papar is used to be a good rice producing district, but over the years, the paddy fields are left idling. The thousands of acres of good field left to grow grass only and became waste land.

How can we achieve food security in Sabah without the consistent and consolidated effort from the government itself? Onong said Sabah is now importing RM 1.0 billion of rice yearly, which is equivalent to the same amount received on the 5% of our oil royalty.

That means the 5% oil royalty received is just enough to import our rice. Why can't the government help to make good our existing paddy fields to allow our paddy farms to plant the rice? That will surely enhanced a better income and living for our farmers, and to benefit the Sabahan.

Onong challenges the government to immediately comes into redo all the drainage and irrigation system to enable the farmers to start planting in the next season. If the farmers are short of working capital and money, the government should give them soft loan for them to start work. If the BN government can't do this, then let the PR do it and the BN must step down. (DAP Media)