KUCHING: In a brave and ambitious move to win power in the two eastern Borneo states of Sarawak and Sabah, Pakatan Harapan (PH) has announced on Oct 21 that it will scrap a planned High Speed Rail (HSR) between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, and build a new Pan-Borneo railway line instead!
The official announcement came just a day ahead of the Budget presentation by the prime minister on Oct 22. The estimated RM35 billion HSR will be channelled into a totally new railway line connecting the cities of Kuching in south-western Sarawak, to Tawau in north-eastern Sabah – joining a distance of precisely 1,519.8km, or a journey which currently takes 25 hours on major trunk roads and smaller town roads.
The reasoning and raison d’etre presented by PH is that the HSR would only benefit those working in and around Kuala Lumpur and in Singapore – and that there are already many cheaper and affordable options to travel between these two cities.
Building the Pan-Borneo railway line on the other hand besides costing a lot less than the HSR, would open up the entire suburban and rural areas of both states of Sarawak and Sabah, whose development has been long neglected by BN and whose populace of almost 6 million (21 percent of Malaysia’s total) had to depend on unreliable transport routes often cut off by floods, landslides and other natural disasters. The tortuous and long road journeys had been responsible for countless tragic accidents in recent years.
Unfortunately, PH’s reasoning appears to be politically motivated as well.
Both Sabah and Sarawak have long been stronghold “safe fixed deposit” states of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition and with Sarawak state polls due at the latest by June 2016, the time seems opportune to roll out such a manifesto well in advance. National parliamentary elections are only due in 2018.
This latest announcement gives PH’s election campaign a brave new battle cry which will appeal to all voters in the two states, more so in the rural areas where they have not been able to make a dent in recent polls.
But how effective a campaign tool can this be? We mustn’t forget that for the rural voters, a majority of them are more concerned about their daily needs and requirements and what can keep them going for the present time. What they are looking for are actually just very short term benefits that can be easily doled out by BN come polling time. The meagre few hundred ringgits being dished out here and there, plus maybe a new outboard engine or some new zinc roofing for their longhouses.
For them, the idea of a Pan-Borneo railway line would seem like a fairy tale and a dream which they might not live long enough to see materialise, yes maybe for their children and children’s children.
But then again the proposal would appeal and appear attractive to the younger generation – it would reinvigorate their dreams and their sense of purpose – to know that there is an alternative to the present BN government and their never ending stream of bad news, bad vibes, nepotism, cronyism, corruption and even grand larceny – making the news headlines day in and day out.
As the new opposition party alliance has appropriately named itself – there is now some new hope.
Yes, let’s hope that this Pan Borneo rail link is not just a mere dream.-The Ant Daily
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