- nabalunews
STOP WASTING TIME AND QUICKLY SOLVE MA63 ISSUES, ONGKILI TOLD
19 April 2021
KOTA KINABALU: Federal Minister of Sabah and Sarawak Affairs Datuk Dr. Maximus Ongkili has been told not to waste any more time on talking on trivial issues and instead move on to solve the more pressing issues in Sabah which is the remaining Malaysia Agreement (MA63) issues.
The former Assistant Minister of the now defunct State Ministry of Education and Innovation, Jenifer Lasimbang chided that Ongkili should stop talking about the 17 out of 21 issues pertaining to the MA63 or Ligitan, as more important matters that affect the Sabahans have been neglected.
Ongkili who is the president of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) recently claimed that the previous government failed to solve the issues.
"Maybe PH's commitment on the 17 points of the MA63 is the only political lifeline that both PBS and Ongkili has now, hence, the reason why they are talking about it incessantly hoping that Sabahans will forget the party's inept failure despite spending 20 years in copulation with Umno.
“My advice to him is to stop wasting time on such petty issues and to start delivering what Sabah and Sarawak entitled for when we formed the Federation of Malaysia, particularly regarding the sorry conditions of our schools that desperately requires better facilities and utilities, new furniture, modern teaching aids, internet connectivity and liveable hostels environment," she said in a statement.
According to Jenifer who is also the former consultant to the Unicef Malaysia and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), during her 2 years stint as the state assistant minister, her fact-finding missions all over the state unearthed shocking revelation where almost half of the schools in Sabah are categorised as 'daif' (dilapidated).
"Out of the 1,296 schools in Sabah, 589 are classified as 'daif' where our schoolchildren have to use water from the wells, rusted roofing causing water leakages when its rain, children having to endure hot condition because of non-functioning fans and worst of all, having to sleep on the floor without beds in inhabitable hostels.
“Based on my decade long experience with Unicef and UNDP, I would readily attest that the sorry conditions of our schools denote lack of enthusiasm and vigor on the part of both our State and Federal Governments in the past to create a progressive society where our schoolchildren from the rural areas will be given the opportunity to experience upward social mobility.
“Sabahans will forever be indebted to (former chief minister) Datuk Shafie Apdal, a true believer in education, who immediately established the Ministry of Education and Innovation soon after WarisanPlus came into power in 2018 and he had also been instrumental in securing the allocation of RM100 million in 2019 to repair 24 'sekolah daif' (dilapidated schools) and another RM445 million in 2020 under RMK-11 involving 61 'sekolah daif after series of meetings and discussions between with the Federal Ministries and Agencies.”
With Shafie being an advocate on education and his conspicuous presence within the Federal Government, Jenifer said Sabah would have been the biggest gainer on education if PH Government was still in power today as substantial amount of allocation would have been secured.
She added that this would especially be for the repair and upgrading of 'missions and vernacular' schools in Sabah and the increment of the District Education Director's allocation from the existing RM500,000 once the Twelfth Malaysian Plan (RMK12) rolled out.
“And we have yet to take account into the sales tax collected from PETRONAS and the 40 per cent entitlement which remain as one of the four unsolved points of the MA63.
“So if Ongkili aspires to be a respectable state man, then he should stop bragging about the 21 Points of MA63 and start to think instead on how to reduce Kota Marudu's 46 per cent poverty rate which is the third highest in Malaysia,” she lamented while also telling Ongkili to play a “useful role” regarding the conditions the schools in Sabah.
Meanwhile, the Secretary General of Warisan, Datuk Loretto Padua Jr. reiterated that the party will continue to play its part to ensure Sabahan schoolchildren will receive better standard of education especially regarding school facilities and hostel accommodations.
"We had so many schoolchildren from the rural areas of Sabah who performed exceptionally well in academic, sports and extra curriculum activities and we need to ensure that these schools continue to produce talented students because one day, they will lead the nation in many ways.
“Warisan inherited a very messy State from Barisan Nasional (BN) Sabah who grew complacent for having no competitor at all for almost 24 years and that complacency is the reason why they have no urgency or passion to ensure that our schoolchildren received equal standard on school facilities with those in the peninsula.
“Now imagine seeing a student who comes from a poor family where his parents are unable to provide study materials or worst, a socially broken family where his parents engage in daily drinking stupors in their house – we should never conclude that this student is destined to inherit his parents' current condition,” he stated.
Loretto stressed that it is the role of the Government to prepare an escape route for that student – an education.
“Hence why Warisan wants all our schools in the State to become a wonderful place for our schoolchildren so that they will be interested to come, study and pass their exams resulting them to have a much better prospect in life than they are now in.
“Warisan will continue to place education as its priority and despite all the mockery made on our decision to establish the State's Ministry of Education and Innovation, it managed to secure important deals for our schools hence we will re-establish this Ministry if the Sabahans agreeable to return back the mandate to us.
“The missionaries who faced even greater challenges to provide education to the Sabahans back in the 1900s due to the lack of funds to build proper schools and resistance from parents who preferred their children to help them at the paddy field should become the beacon of light for us that nothing is impossible in eyes of the God and he might even help us as long as our fight is for the right intention," he said.
