Blind loyalty is dangerous in high places
The recent Radio Free Sarawak interview with Abdul Karim Hamzah, chief political secretary to Sarawak’s chief minister Taib Mahmud, elicited countless disparaging remarks about Abdul Karim’s intelligence and competence.
Abdul Karim himself might be the first to admit he had a thankless task, trying to defend the indefensible. He had a duty to perform, and he tried his best, but he was bound to fail.
Still, his performance, befitting a pantomime, was stilted and unconvincing, and frankly embarrassing. The chief political secretary succeeded only in training the spotlight more persistently on his chief.
The long line of sycophants trotted out by Taib to speak out to defend his ‘honour’ – Abdul Karim, Abang Johari, Alfred Jabu, James Masing, Stephen Rundi Utom et al – remind me of Lewis Carroll’s comic poem, The Walrus and the Carpenter.
“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes and ships – and sealing-wax –
Of cabbages – and kings –
And why the sea is boiling hot –
And whether pigs have wings.”
Sarawakians dying from neglect
Abdul Karim is state assembly representative for Asajaya, one of the poorest Malay areas in the entire country.
Anyone who has visited Asajaya will know the Malays face chronic inadequacies in income, employment opportunities and infrastructure. They have been neglected by the authorities for 47 years of ‘independence’, even though Taib Mahmud himself was the local parliamentarian and the state assembly representative, until he withdrew and decamped to Mukah.
Early last month, Bernama and the New Straits Times reported that 47 villages in Asajaya and Sadong Jaya had been afflicted by an outbreak of water-borne infection, caused by piped water contaminated by dangerous bacteria.
The spate of “gastroenteritis” caused the deaths of 3 villagers from severe dehydration. A total of 476 cases had been reported by October 25, with 22 admitted to hospital. There must have many more cases of diarrhoea and suffering among the poor Malay villagers there, that did not find their way into the official statistics.
What was the cause of the outbreak?
Assistant state minister for public health Stephen Rundi Utom told Abdul Karim Hamzah and Wan Abdul Wahab bin Wan Sanusi (BN representative for neighbouring Sadong Jaya), in the state assembly, that the authorities had taken samples of the piped water in the area for analysis.
Tests showed that “81 per cent had almost zero chlorine, at 0.02ppm (parts per million) to 0.08 ppm, while the water culture was positive for E. coli and coliform organisms”.
Leaks in the water pipes and the “near zero” chlorine levels, he said, had encouraged the growth of the bacteria in the water supply. Stephen Rundi, Abdul Karim, and Wan Sanusi failed to explain why the chlorine levels had been so low. The figures given by the assistant minister indicate the chlorine levels were an astonishing 1% of the desired level.
The assistant minister said the Public Works Department (Jabatan Kerja Raya or JKR) was tasked to flush the water pipes weekly, plug the leaks and ensure the chlorine levels were between 2 and 5 ppm.
