Miri Resort City.com - Rants

22nd September 2008 - Sexual abuse of Penan girls

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:54:03 +0800

MIRI: Sarawak police have called on non-governmental organisations or human rights groups that have information about sexual abuse by timber workers against interior Penan and native girls to lodge official police reports immediately.

State Police Commissioner Datuk Mohmad Salleh said Sarawak police are prepared to launch an immediate investigation into these serious allegations.

“We need official police reports to facilitate an immediate probe. Any NGOs or natives who know of such cases should lodge a report at the nearest police station.

“If there is an official report, we can commence investigations immediately,” he said.

Mohamad said Miri police have told him they had not received any official report on the allegations, adding that he would also check with the police chief in the interior division of Baram.

Mohmad, here on a working visit, was presenting donations to widows and orphans at the Miri police headquarters when asked about allegations circulating in cyberspace concerning the sexual abuse of Penan women by timber workers in interior Baram.

The allegations were highlighted by the Bruno Manser Foundation on its website.

“Sometimes, the problem with NGOs is that they highlight complaints through their websites and the media. They don’t come to us (the police). They should come to us first,” he told a press conference here on Tuesday.

The website claimed that young Penan women in Baram had been sexually abused by timber workers in logging camps and in their settlements.

The foundation, based in Switzerland, is an environmental and human rights grouping set up by environmental activist Bruno Manser, the Swiss who made a name for himself in the 1980s when he organised huge anti-logging protests among the nomadic and semi-nomadic Penans of interior Sarawak.

He went missing in the interior of Sarawak in 2001.

A large part of Baram district, and other parts of interior Sarawak, have been alloted to private consortiums for logging and plantation development. Many of these areas are still populated by indigenous and minority groups, including the Penans.

10th August 2008 - Blackout in Sarawak

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 09:52:06 +0800

By STEPHEN THEN

MIRI: A state-wide power cut in Sarawak on Saturday evening (9th August, 2008) saw the blackout affect more than two million people over a distance of 1,000km from Kuching to Miri.

Cities and towns in the state were plunged into total darkness causing massive chaos as everybody was caught by surprise.

The power failure started in Kuching at about 6.30pm Saturday and rapidly spread northward to Sibu then to Miri by 7.30pm.

{...}

Meanwhile, thousands of people who were caught up in the massive traffic jam and in commercial complexes were reportedly evacuated without any incidents so far.

Source

It's got a much more serious effect on many things than they think.

What are the chances we get a public apology explanation from SESCO? Very slim - because usually, they don't.

The Clocktower, 2 years on

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:54:42 +0800

So two years on, the flyover's been built, fuel prices skyrocketed, crime skyrocketed but where is our faceless clocktower?

Here it is: Unchanged since Day 1 when I first reported on it.

They even said in order to 'preserve' the clocktower landmark, they actually built the flyover AROUND the clocktower.

Preservation of old landmarks is all good except.. what use is to preserve it if you don't even keep it working and let its sorry state to view to the public and tourists? And what good is preservation to one small clocktower when all those really old buildings in Old Town are totally torn down to be built up instead of the more logical approach of just renovating them?

Rampant crime activities?

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 10:24:59 +0800

Well, I'm not sure what the papers are saying (if they are saying anything worth mentioning at all) but just this morning my parent's friend's office was broken in and his safe and valuables stolen.

They are the exact same friends who accompanied my parents to the police station when my parents' car were stolen. Now they find themselves making the police report themselves with my parents accompanying them to the police station.

What are the chances of two sets of people who know each other having become victims of theft within the span of just a week or so?

Is that coincidental?

I'm putting my finger on rampant crime activity instead.

This is from a Mirians' perspective. Yes, crime activities in Miri are very high. I already see several cars hatchback have their back windscreen broken, probably as a result of a break-in, cars stolen - including that of my parents' - and heard countless tales of other crime incidents not even published in the papers because the newspapers companies are gutless sissies.

With the increases in fuel prices - with Sarawak being affected the worst - crime might worsen.

I don't care what the authorities say, I don't care what the papers are saying, and I don't care what the leaders are saying. We are living in a crime infested city and the people with the powers to do something about it is keeping completely quiet.

Car theft on the rise.

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:05:51 +0800

About 6-8 cars were reported missing last night alone (10th June 2008). Not sure of the exact figures but it was around that.

My parents' car was also stolen.

In fact, we had sort of expected this to occur - this says a lot about the crime problems in Miri. It's not that we think it 'only happens to someone else' but we expected it to occur. Th problem is just 'when'?

Few days back, a friend's friend's Perdana was also stolen, but he was lucky as the police managed to spot it and get it back. It's interesting to know how they stole the cars - they simply drilled through the key hole, open the door and - if the car had a gear shift lock - using a hammer or heavy object, hit it hard enough so the lock mechanism breaks, but makes it drivable.

Steering locks are a deterrent but if they really wanted the car they'd be able to get past it anyhow (looking at the above example, a gearshift lock didn't work).

Rural Sarawakians "Forgotten"

Sat, 7 Jun 2008 15:24:50 +0800

A post by Uchu Keling on how our Prime Minster totally 'forgotten' about rural Sarawakians - most highly affected by the increases in diesel for transport.

You see, diesel is not only vital for river and land transportation for goods in the rural areas (where off-road vehicles are needed sometimes), they are absolutely essential for generators for electrical power. The sudden jump in diesel practically put a halt to everything.

We're all really angry about it - but us here in the city are still lucky enough to have the basic needs covered (at higher costs) but it is the rural areas that have become extremely critical.

See what Uchu Keling has to say.

6th June 2008 - Rumors of cooking oil price increase

Fri, 6 Jun 2008 22:18:21 +0800

Rumors that cooking oil prices may be increasing sent shoppers scrambling to buy cooking oil today. Most shopping complexes and shops have cooking oil supplies emptied out.

6th June, 2008 - River, land transport in rural Sarawak comes to a standstill

Fri, 6 Jun 2008 15:05:53 +0800

MIRI: River and land transportation in many parts of rural Sarawak came to a standstill Thursday as petrol and diesel supply ran out following massive panic buying hours before the Government’s new price took effect.

Petrol and diesel shortages have been reported in rural villages and interior towns in central and northern Sarawak as the fuel supply situation gets even more chaotic following the sharp hike in price of this vital commodity.

{....}

These rural folks had to bear the brunt of this shortage because they rely on fuel supply from urban centres. The urban centres had been adversely affected by the mad rush by people in towns and cities to buy the petrol and diesel on Wednesday night in order to fill their tanks to the maximum before the new price took effect at midnight Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in Marudi district in interior Baram, many folks were not even aware of the price hike.

Wow.. Interior Baram were not even aware of the price hikes?

5th June, 2008 - Fuel price hikes causes massive jams at petrol stations

Thu, 5 Jun 2008 09:51:58 +0800

Petrol will be RM2.70 a litre at midnight tonight The new price of petrol is RM2.70 per litre beginning midnight tonight, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced just a moment ago. The 78 sen hike or 40 per cent increase is still below the antiticpated RM4 per litre price projected earlier and among the cheapest in Asia.

Diesel prices increased by RM1 per liter, and petrol by RM0.78. It sucks to be a diesel owner now.

Oh by the way - transportation vehicles usually run on diesel. So that means, we shall await the effects of the huge jump in diesel prices to be reflected in the prices of goods. Will this be the price hike 'tsunami' everyone's been anticipating?

The Morning Jam

Wed, 21 May 2008 14:36:45 +0800

Flyover bridge stress-testing. How many cars can you put on top of it?

The jam along the stretch of road leading to Bintang. (Road ahead is clear because it turns left into town. Jam occurs for those who want to go straight.)

These pictures are from this morning's traffic jam over the flyover bridge as a result of the the incredibly stupid badly planned roadworks at the junction I blogged about the few days before.

It also slowed traffic to a crawl on the flyover that was supposed to ease the traffic flow along this road. (see second pic)

P.S. Also note that 'lovely morning mist'. Ahhh, the fresh scent of open burning.

Just. Bad. Planning.

Mon, 19 May 2008 00:38:42 +0800

Some mere months ago, this road intersection to Canada Hill was blocked off and a concrete divider built in between it to basically 'ease' traffic flow for the Puchong flyover in front of the Pelita Tunku Complex. That didn't really help the situation, and in fact, not only did it prevented easy access from town to Canada Hill (where the First Oil Well was), it also prevented traffic from turning around back to town without going the long way around and merging into other traffic causing a huge jam...

....today, as I passed by the area, I saw this:

They've AGAIN broken up that divider they built just months before for some sort of roadwork. What a complete waste of time and money!

Orang Utans are in Peril!

Sun, 11 May 2008 14:35:28 +0800

First off, what are Orang Utans? Let's get to know the animal we're talking about here before we go any further about them being in peril. The orangutans are two species of great apes known for their intelligence, long arms and reddish-brown hair. Pretty ugly by ape standards, but nevertheless we should not be bias about saving cute animals only.

They are currently found only in rainforests on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. These are the last places on Earth they are known to exist - these are cause for concern. Interestingly however, their fossils have been known found in Java, Vietnam and China.

Their name derives from the Malay and Indonesian phrase "orang hutan", meaning "Jungle Man". The orangutan is an official state animal of Sabah in Malaysia.

As far as I know, none exist in Sarawak. Right now you're probably thinking, "This Ian is a weirdo, why it be any of our concern if there are (apparently) none in Sarawak?"

Well, simply because - Sarawak is part of that Borneo, and as a whole, we needed to be aware of these things and help the effort in getting spreading awareness. The Bornean species of orangutans is endangered, and the Sumatran species is listed critically endangered.

It is this news article that got me thinking about the severity of situation.

Very shocking quotes from the article:

"For Central Kalimantan, the species will be gone as soon as three years from now"

"Experts believe the overall extinction rate of Borneo orangutans is nine per cent per year, but in Central Kalimantan they are disappearing even faster due to unchecked expansion of palm oil plantations."

So this is what got the conservationists jumping up and down three years ago when they accused Sarawak's oil palm plantation of destroying the orang utan's habitat (as mentioned before, none exist in Sarawak). They simply got bad geography and actually meant Central Kalimantan, where they are hunted as pests to prevent them eating palm seedlings!

Even though Sarawak does not have Orang Utan, we're still part of that Borneo, the island we share with the Orang Utans. It is this island that not only are they killing Orang Utans mercilessly, but deforestation and irresponsible field burning adds to not only the Orang Utan's demise, but probably ours very soon as well. Suddenly the border dividing Sarawak and Kalimantan becomes meaningless.

Please help spread the awareness, especially to our young children, so they'll grow up with this in mind, possibly even changing our world and treatment towards animals for the better in the future. The future lies in their hands, because the current generation of humans are such screw-ups when it comes to awareness of endangered animals.

To learn more about Orang Utans, please see the reference links

The News Article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangutan

http://www.orangutanprotection.com/

http://www.savetheorangutan.org/

It's haze season again.

Tue, 6 May 2008 02:07:17 +0800

It's the time of the year again when all you smell is smoke - especially during the night, when the air is cooler, bringing down all the smoke particles from some open burning somewhere. During the daytime, the smoke is less intrusive, but forms a layer at the upper atmosphere and trapping the heat - the temperatures are unbearable.

This 'phenomenon' occurs every year -- usually involves stupid people taking shortcuts and simply setting fields ablaze for a quick clearing of the land for plantation of who-knows-what. Sometimes blamed on our neighboring country, Indonesia, but most of the time comes from our own backyard (but never made mentioned much about). What better time to have this during our mid-year May / Gawai festivals?

Ah, now you see why people describe Miri as "hot" when they visit -- it's like an oven here at times like this.

What's the number of lung disease cases in Miri like?

Pedestrian Crossing? It's only a suggestion.

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:00:55 +0800

The confusing pedestrian crossing - so is it a pedestrian crossing or not?

The pictures above show one sign indicating pedestrian crossing, and another saying that it is in fact not a ped crossing, so cross at your own risk.

The place is pedestrian-heavy (as can be seen in first pic) with slow moving traffic, it should be obvious to put a bridge here for the pedestrians, or put a proper crossing where the cars should stop for pedestrians to cross. Without the costly traffic lights.

Instead, the sign suggests that it may look like a crossing but is in fact isn't and if you get killed they won't be responsible.

For a city that can't even make up their mind whether it is a crossing or not in the most obvious places, it's no wonder Miri still has only one pedestrian bridge in over 10 years and countless pedestrian deaths.

Crime skyrockets just as news announces successes in crime reduction?

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 15:13:07 +0800

Robberies are recurring in and around Miri. If the media wouldn't go about gloating about how police "kept Miri Peaceful" a few weeks just before these incidents happen the whole thing wouldn't make the police look so incompetent and silly. But they just had to make press announcements like that.

Of course, just after that announcement, robberies started occurring at an alarming rate. Rampant, even. Almost at a rate of one per day. This is exactly what happened several months back, when the newspapers report crime rates decreasing while the front page reports yet another.... robbery.

Sort of jinxed it, don't you think?

What qualifies as a 'decrease' in crime? One less house robbed? One less car stolen? Or muggings & snatchings or petty theft going unreported? Did they know exactly how many cases go unreported because the people no longer trust the police and feel that it is just a big waste of time? Did they know how awful the response times are that from the police - if they even pick up the distress call?

In Miri, when valuables - or even unvaluables - get stolen, it is as good as lost. Period. You will never see it again. Great if it's insured, not great if it's not.

I've been doing some spring cleaning lately and come across a 1984 issue of National Geographic Magazine reporting on Japan. In it, it says Tokyo - with millions and millions of people living in it at the time, has crime so low and police so efficient (at that time) that when something as simple as a bicycle was stolen, its serial number taken down and was eventually recovered 5 years later. While not exactly fast, but at least they still remembered it after 5 years! In Miri with a population of only 300,000 or so, could not even match this kind of commitment, let alone get anywhere close to it. A bike stolen here is gone for good, unless you yourself do something about it and track it down on your own.

Most people wouldn't bother.