LEFT WITH NO CHOICE

NO END IN SIGHT..... The case of cable theft and vandalism shows no end in Sarawak. Frequent cable thefts force Telekom Malaysia to cut services to several villages.

By : LESTER MEKAN BAHA

KUCHING: Telekom Malaysia has been forced to terminate telephone service to several places in the state due to repeated cable thefts. The company’s state General Manager, Abdul Rahim Mohd Ali said the company was losing so much that it had to stop the service to some places.

“For instance, 16 cases of cable thefts occurred along Padawan Road from the junction at Tapah last year alone, which resulted in the interruption of service for the whole year.

“The thefts are so rampant and stopping them is beyond our means. It is not only us losing but the subscribers (villagers) as well,” Abdul Rahim said.

He added that the frequent cable thefts also created anxiety among local people as they were afraid the people who stole the wires would turn to their property and threaten their safety.

“It is the consumers who are losing much for they will be the ones paying for the repair costs with higher taxes and insurance premiums.”

When asked what measures the company had taken to curb thefts, Abdul Rahim said they had organised several awareness campaigns involving people in the affected villages.

“They have been told to immediately call their local council or the police if they saw telephone cables being cut or public telephones vandalised.”

To another question, he said the (telephone) service could only be re-connected to a village after a disparity study in teledensity (number of telephone lines per 100 inhabitants) had been conducted.

The headman of Kampung Simpok in Padawan, John Jinggut, concurred with the company that the villagers were at the losing end as mobile phones could not be used in many areas in the interior.

However, he was disappointed that Telekom had terminated the service to their village.

“We are really in need of a telephone service to connect us with the outside world. We also need telephone in case of emergency such as fire and accidents,” Jinggut said when met recently.

On another note, Abdul Rahim said they would soon replace the current copper cables with fibre optic cable which is widely used in Peninsular Malaysia.

This would be the most effective way of stopping cable thefts as fibre optic cables are of no value to scrap metal dealers.

Copper cables can fetch between RM20 and RM50 per kg when sold as scrap metal which is the reason why thieves frequently targeted these cables.

He added that the company would not be able to do much if they were able to trace the cable to a scrap metal yard “because of lack of proof” since no company logo were stamped on the cables.

“Also, the Scrap Metal Act, 1964, has not yet been enforced in Sarawak.” (theborneopost)