‘Prioritise Pan Borneo Highway project in Sabah’s interior’

KOTA KINABALU: The Federal Government, especially the Ministry of Public Works, needs to immediately implement the Pan Borneo project in the interior of Sabah since it is close to the new Indonesia’s capital, Nusantara.

Senator Datuk Bobbey Suan said the districts in the Upper Interior area which connect to other districts such as Tawau, Nabawan, Keningau, Tambunan and Tenom should be given priority and the implementation of the Pan Borneo project in that area should be prioritised.

He said this is due to the position of those districts that are close to the new Indonesian capital city which is expected to be inaugurated on August 17 this year in conjunction with the celebration of Indonesia’s independence, which is the first time it will be held in the archipelago.

“Considering the need and the passage of time, this Pan Borneo project should be implemented simultaneously without waiting for the completion of Phase 1 and 2 because all the districts are in Phase 3, which we do not know when the implementation will start,” he said during the Royal Address debate in the Dewan Negara on Thursday.

He said Indonesia is a new power in the Southeast Asian region and any changes that happen to the country will certainly have big implications for the surrounding countries, not excluding Malaysia.

He said the prospect of this move needs to be understood carefully and cautiously because the move of the capital of a regional power in Southeast Asia is going to be a game changer to the developments and geopolitical, geo-strategic and geoeconomic changes taking place in the region.

Bobbey said that the relocation of Indonesia’s capital will have an impact not only on Malaysia and Sabah in particular, but it will also attract the attention of other world economic powers such as South Korea, China and Japan who have been major economic players in this region.

“There is no doubt that this move will be a new field and magnet for economic and geopolitical development in the region that will equal Dubai metropolis in the United Arab Emirates and Shenzen metropolis in China,” he said.

Bobbey said he saw that the Federal Government is still not serious in dealing with the issue of the delay in the implementation of the Pan Borneo project in the Sabah Regional Line, which involves the issue of land repossession, contractor problems and so on.

“Until today, the implementation is still very slow and has angered road users in Sabah,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, Bobbey once again reiterated the call for the Federal Government to upgrade the Nabawan District Health Clinic to Nabawan District Hospital.

He said the Federal Government through the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health need to work together and sit at the same table to put aside any red tapes so that the upgrading works can be carried this year.

According to him, the upgrade is in accordance with the status of Nabawan as a full district and is in line with the increase of population in the district which has reached more than thirty thousand people.

“With the Nabawan District Hospital, the residents of the Pensiangan parliamentary constituency and nearby parliamentary areas will have the opportunity to obtain complete health facilities without having to travel far to the Keningau District Hospital or Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu to receive treatment, at the same time reducing the burden of expenses for patients who cannot afford it,” he said.

Touching on the high rate of extreme poverty in Sabah which is six times higher than the national rate, Bobbey supports TVET education to be one of the important components to reduce the highest extreme poverty in the eight poorest districts in the state, and he suggested creating a more clear and synergistic ecosystem.

He said through TVET and the People’s Income Initiative (IPR), children from extreme poor households can be certified through the Skills Development Department or the Malaysian Plantation and Commodity Institute in the field of agriculture and plantation according to the locality and competitive advantages of their respective districts.

“After graduation, governmentrelated companies (GLC), government-related investment companies (GLIC) and private companies in the district can continue to hire these TVET graduates to work with a minimum starting salary target of RM1800 to RM3000 per month.

“At the same time, members of severely poor households who are involved in IPR through the Integrated Agriculture Project will also benefit from this,” he said.