BN’s neglect of Sarawak’s citizens has been manifest since Malaysia’s inception. BN’s corruption here seems proportionate to Sarawak’s geographical size, huge and bottomless. Sarawak’s abundant wealth has clearly not filtered down to its people. Not only is the wealth vanishing, its people are also suffering physically from the governments neglect as well. This coming general election, will Sarawak’s voters wake up and make the change?

Environmental Degradation

• Environmental NGO Wetlands International claimed that Sarawak had destroyed nearly 800,000 hectares, 10 % of its entire forest in the past five years
• It is nearly 4 times faster than Asia’s forest degradation rate (2.8 %) in the same period.
• The loss include more than 330,000 hectares of peat land drained and cleared from 2005 to 2010 for palm oil plantations
• According to Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (SADIA), Malaysia’ only aluminium smelter plant in Mukah, have caused serious health hazards and economic losses among the natives living adjacent to the plant.
• Health hazards from the plant’s emission include breathing difficulties, coughing, dizziness, headache, skin rashes, eyesore and asthma. SADIA’s request to see the DEIA report was denied
• A second aluminium smelter plant by the same company is ready for operation by end of 2012 in Samalaju, Bintulu

Oppressing Natives

• Penans, one of the poorest native tribes, have suffered displacement and exploitation due to extensive logging activities in Sarawak’ forest.
• Sarawak’s treatment of Penans has received international condemnation from Prince Charles of UK and the UN.
• Bruno Manser, a well-known Swiss environment activist who has been campaigning for the Penans’ plight since 1980s, has been declared missing or dead since 2001 in his last trip to Sarawak.
• There are around 1.6 million hectares of native customary reserve (NCR) land. Only 10% of it has been adjudicated to the rightful tribes. Many natives depend on NCR land for sustenance and income.
• Many NCR land have been taken by crony plantation companies. According to Baru Bian, PKR’s Bakelalan ADUN, there are more than 200 NCR land dispute cases currently on trial.

Poverty In Land of Plenty

• Sarawak’s per capita GDP is RM 33,307 (2010), 2ndhighest in Malaysia. Top 20% income households earn 8.3 times that of the lowest 40 % income households, one of highest in Malaysia
• It was the world’s largest exporter of tropical hardwood, earning RM 7.08 billion in revenue for 2011.
• Together with Sabah, it contributed about 40% of federal government’s revenue through its oil and gas resources. 80% of Malaysia’s oil and gas comes from both states.
• Ranked 4th highest poverty level in Malaysia, with 6% classified as hardcore poor. The figure is likely understated as an estimated one-third eligible residents are not documented as citizens, most of them poor.
• 41% of rural households don’t have piped water supply; 33% don’t have regular electricity supply.

Maternal Mortality

• Although contributing the highest amount of taxes, its citizens gets one of the lowest health care per capita allocation in country (RM 422 (Sarawak) vs RM 1,800 (nation average))
• According to the blog Sarawak Report, Sarawak’s maternal mortality rate is 3 times higher than its official stated figure, at 92 deaths per 100,000 births.
• Almost 30% of the state population have no access to hospitals and clinics, compared to 5% in the peninsula.