By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Sept 19: Sabah’s recurring water and electricity outages, coupled with floods, landslides, and the still-incomplete Pan Borneo Highway, have caused immense hardship for its people, says political pundit Dato Peter Minos.
In a statement, he shared his observations after a week-long trip through Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Lahad Datu, Tawau, and Semporna, where he felt deeply sorry for Sabahans who have endured days without basic utilities while also facing natural disasters.
“It is the sufferings of thousands of Sabahans that were bad and intolerable. I pity them,” he said.
While acknowledging that rain, floods, and road blockages were unavoidable, Minos questioned the days-long wait in repairing water pipes and power plants.
“Repairs on the water pipes and power plants could be done more speedily and expeditiously. Why it took four or five days and longer—that beats me,” he said.
Although he said the Sabah government should not be entirely blamed, he noted that Sabahans have said that repairs could have been done expeditiously by the relevant authorities, as was the case here in Sarawak.
“Many in Sabah have commented that in Sarawak, things were done speedily, and repairs of damaged water and electricity plants took, at the most, one day. To that, I say please do not compare, as things are different in Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.
He also echoed Sabahans’ voices on the differences between their side of the Pan Borneo Highway and Sarawak’s completed stretch from Sematan to Miri. According to one Sabah commentator, said Minos, it is all because of excessive politicking and disunity among leaders.
Despite that, Minos expressed optimism that things in Sabah would return to normal soon.
“As good and friendly neighbours, we are, of course, feeling sad and sorry for Sabahans. They have fallen on hard times, and nothing seems to be right. But I am sure, given time, things will see normality. All’s well that ends well.” — DayakDaily
