Network of Rivers - Arteries of Sarawak

Why there are not much roads in Sarawak?    

Why it takes so long to construct roads in Sarawak?  

Why are Sarawak’s roads so bumpy? So winding? So narrow?

There are lots of questions Sarawakians tend to ask, especially those had travel overseas and seen the roads in other country.

The answer is never easy.   Not only because of corruption and mismanagement of resources, but it covers far beyond that.  

The truth is, I believe : lies beneath our own feet, literally speaking.
 
 

 
The answer is best answered by an engineer and a geologist.  But I believe it can be answered by simply understanding the basic of road construction.
  

FACT #1

 
Nak tak nak, with the current technology, the only way of making a paved road is either asphalt or concrete.  Either way, these 3 components are inevitable :  Soil, Aggregates, Binders.
 
 

Soil

Soil is the base of roads.  It provide the foundation for road construction.  Soil with high clay and organic matter are disaster in making road.  Sarawak soil are rich in peat soil at the coastal area, and sedimentary material in the inland. 
 

Aggregate

Stone aggregate, also known as mineral aggregate, is easily the most important component of road construction materials. It is made by breaking up naturally occurring rocks.    Aggregates are used for granular bases, sub-bases, as part of bituminous mixes and cement concrete.
 

Binders

The binders are to bind the aggregates and sand into a composite mix.  Most common binder used in Malaysia is bitumen, a product of distillation of crude petroleum.  Cement is another binder, but concrete road are less common in our land.
 

( Betulkah jurutera kalian ?  Ada betul hujah saya ? )

 
  
 

 

FACT #2

Source : Adepehin, E.J., Ali, C.A., Zakaria, A.A. et al. An overview of 20 years’ hydrocarbon exploration studies and findings in the Late Cretaceous-to-Tertiary onshore Central Sarawak, NW Borneo: 1997–2017 in retrospect. J Petrol Explor Prod Technol 9, 1593–1614 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13202-018-0591-8
 
Looking at the geological map of Sarawak, huge chunk of the area is arenaceous ( coloured yellow ) and argillaceous ( coloured light green ) in the interior, and peat ( coloured gray ) along the coast.   Both arenaceous and argillaceous are sedimentary rocks, which are easily broken when crushed. The coastal peat are lagi nightmare for constructions.
 

ini macam batu, sekali ketuk dah pecah. Apa macam bikin jalan?

There are some pockets of andesitic, dacitic and some other granite rock ( coloured in different hues of red ) at the western tip of Kuching Division.  The granite rock are the only ideal material for construction.
 

( I cakap kosong ni.  Geologists kalian, please back me up !)

  
 

CONCLUSION

 
In a nutshell, there are no much hard rock formation found in Sarawak.  Not to mention the discrete location of the quarry, which are very far away from the rest of Sarawak, making it costly to the transport of aggregate to other part of Sarawak, therefore making aggregate a scarce commodity.
 
Adding up all the factors, road construction is Sarawak is a very difficult, expensive and impossible task!  Not forget to mention all other mega projects which requires lots of aggregate.

Ini belum lagi cerita our soil condition with the sedimentary and peat material, cannot be properly compacted to provide strong base for the roads.  At the end of the day, the roads sunken.  

ALTERNATIVES

 
So my suggestion is back to river transportation !
 
Sarawak is linked with networks of river systems.   For the past, Sarawakian has been relied on sampans, speadboats, express boats, and all sorts of marine vessel. 
 
All the cities, towns, pekans, and ngagas are situated by rivers.  All settlements, big and small, have their own jetty, some even have several jetties.  Every household have a sampans or few, many with outboard motors.   At its peak, Sibu has overs 40 shipyards, building and export vessels of world-class qualilty.
 
So I suggest, we go back to the river transportation.
 

( Hey, it could become Sarawak owns special identity !  macam Venice lah tu )

 
 
Secondly, we could try venture into new way of transportation : seaplane : floatplanes & flying boats.   It can land in many of our rivers and sea, so no need to janji politik to built airport for every town, thus no issue of aggregate issue.

( ini baru everyone can fly )

 
 
 
 
 
 

记忆中的中成药

西康石胆油

轻微烧伤 轻微烫伤

轻微割伤 扭伤挫伤红肿 

昆虫咬伤

太极青草膏

风湿疼痛 经络肌痛

消炎退肿 关节折伤

鹿标神功水

伤风感冒 祛风止痛

轻微屙吐 轻微肚疼

肠胃不适 胃胀气痛

Sarawak for Sarawakians : 猴年大吉

Chronicles of James : Sarawak for Sarawakians

10th,  December of 2015.   Pasar Central Sarikei 

Encountering paku midin ( Stenochlaena palustris )

 Bountiful engkalak/tebulus ( Litsea garciae )

Weary…

空肚子…

…吃空饼

Mission : Possible

11th,  December of 2015.   Pasar Central Sibu

11th,  December of 2015.   Star Mega Mall, Sibu

13th,  December of 2015.   Julau

Pictorial report by JimmyOng

访大雄记

访大雄，
第一件事。。。
喝椰水

hanson 
自己‘杀’椰子 











婆孙吃椰肉

椰子的克星。
大雄五刀就‘杀死’一粒椰子。

排排站，喝椰水。

等待‘被杀’的椰子。

红蚁赶死队。咬hanson。找死！！！

大雄的树胶鞋

大雄的篮子。

抓松鼠的笼子。

knapsack sprayer

榴莲苗

芋头 

小白吃晚餐咯！

椰水喝多了，
‘放水’！

五月五 换政府

2008全国大选，国阵以140席侥幸获胜。若非沙巴及砂拉越稳胜49席，只怕国阵必定败选。

民联安华哥摆明阵局要在9月16 日大变天。企图透过沙巴及砂拉越两州49议员跳槽夺取国会多数议席，以此改朝换代。

国阵伯拉哥听到炮声，吓了一裤子尿。赶紧带了全国国阵议员到台湾公干，以免安华哥钓蛙。

毕竟安华哥太张扬了，给伯拉哥走快两步。安华哥的炮声是打得响，可惜没打中目标。916没变天。

其实，国阵之首的巫统只占了140席之69席，实在是独党难鸣。若国阵其他党员被他而去，巫统一定不能当家。说实在，马华和国大党在国阵也没权没势，其代表的族群也被边沿化，甚至被欺骗、侮辱、欺压。在公，是没有理由留下的了。在私，除了为了私利，还有什么理由？

沙巴及砂拉越的国阵议员为何留下？加入马来西亚55年，沙巴及砂拉越还是全国最穷的州属。虽然资源丰富、地灵人杰，沙砂两州还是没有分到发展这杯羹。令人费解的是沙砂人民还是那么支持国阵。盲目跟从、满足现状？若是百姓满足了，为何怨声四起？若是百姓盲从，为了什么出卖尊严？若是发展了，为何无水无电无路无业？议员们都也盲了？还是口袋满了？难道还为宗教？民族？环保？还是钱？权？色？还是义气？一口气？还是畏强势？怕恶势力？还是怕穷？怕入狱？

退一步想一想，若沙砂两州半数议员跟安华哥塔上了，恐怕国阵已难当家。这个道理，区区一个小王子都想到，何况各位大哥大姐，何况各位议员。就算不跳槽，单以49之尊，可左右政权也！King maker嘞！应该可以为百姓讨些好处了吧？！49个议员，难道都没有一个义士？

2008去了。222个议员的面目都看清了吧？

2013．等着瞧吧！五月五，换政府。

王子 学 外语 之 Help ！

“You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.”

English idiom

You do a favor for me and I'll do a favor for you.; If you do something for me that I cannot do for myself, I will do something for you that you cannot do for yourself.

“You help me, I help you.”

Najib Razak, 2010 May 15^th

The Prime Minister of Malaysia, ( leader of the ruling collation BN ) Najib Razak during his visit to Rejang Park, a Chinese majority housing estate in Sibu, Sarawak, campaigning for SUPP’s Robert Lau during Sibu parliamentary by-election.  Najib promised the voters RM5 million to alleviate floods if Robert Lau win the seat.

The by-election was won by DAP’s Richard Wong by a simple majority of 398 votes.

Najib’s vote-buying promises were deem morally inappropriate for some, yet anyone sensible would know its a broad daylight bribery.  The Malaysian Parliament claimed that  Najib did not violating Election Offences Act.   In 2009, the Federal Court made a decision that promises to bring development during election campaign are not an act of bribery.

Till today, many parts of Sibu remain flood-prone, in addition to tones of other perennial problems.

王子 学 外语 之 Rakyat Didahulukan

government of the people, by the people, for the people

1863 · Abraham Lincoln, United States 16^th President · Gettysburg Address

Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan

( People First, Performance Now )

2009 · 1Malaysia Propaganda

VS

“Jangan lawan tauke”

2012 · Parti Rakyat Sarawak ( PRS, a BN component party ) President James Jemul Masing when defending the party’s Youth chief Mong Dagang for stopping the welfare assistance and subsidies given to phiysically challenged farmer Frusis Lebi of Sri Aman whom openly supported an opposition candidate during 2011 state election.

Not Everyone Can Fly

They can say whatever they like about the MAS-AirAsia share swap.  How it can benefits both airlines, the government, and even the rakyat.

Let the numbers tell the truth.

 

The Truths :

1. Firefly, a MAS owned budget airline, no longer serves certain routes, especially those of Sabah and Sarawak, allowing AirAsia to monopoly the market. 

Flights to Sibu from October 2011 onwards, are cancelled, despite tickets being sold.  Passengers were transferred to MAS, mostly without notifying the passengers in advance.   

Like it or not, AirAsia is the only budget airline flying in and out of Sibu.   

2. AirAsia, supposedly the one-and-only budget airline, yet monopolizing most local routes.  Once flew with the lowest price in the market, now sometimes charges even higher fare than MAS’ – a full service carrier airline.

A check on both airlines' website for flight depart from KLIA to KT on 28^th April 2012, and return on 1^st May 2012, shockingly shows that AirAsia charges higher than MAS !!! Whilst Firefly, our Community Airlines fares the highest !!!!   

Firefly RM715 > AirAsia RM642 > MAS RM576.  ( see if for yourself )

3. Before the swap, tickets from Sibu to KLIA costs at cheapest RM100 including all the taxes and charges ( whatever they are ).  Some can even get RM0 tickets.  After October 2012, the same route easily costs RM200, a 100% increase!

Get it ?  After the swap, AirAsia controls the fare.  He can now sell it at whatever price as he desires.  He calls the prices!!!  Still, we say its cheaper than MAS.  揸到 !

4. All the figures indicate that AirAsia is pulling potential travelers to buy his tickets, which is supposedly still lowest ( on average ) in the market.  While MAS and Firefly purposely markup their fare to his aide. 

Before the swap, AirAsia had to keep lowering its fares as Firefly is competing with him.  Now Firefly simply just withdrawed itself from the competing routes, or simply markups its ticket. 

Voilà !  The rakyat still preferred AirAsia ! 

So, guys !  Here’s the truth : while AirAsia rules the air, not everyone can fly !

A Drive to Daro : I Have Another Dream

Past

1980年代前，从泗里街市Sarikei到玛都镇Matu可要花一天的时间。首先，在Sarikei搭一个小时半的快艇到达佬镇Daro, 然后Daro从乘约一小时的小舟到Matu。Sarikei快艇还有按时间表出发，每人船费约RM18; Daro小舟则需包整只船。等等停停，全程需半天。

1990年代，Daro到Matu通车了。路虽小，可方便多了。同时木胶Mukah晋升为省，Daro、Matu割入Mukah省，三镇从此通车。然而，Daro、Matu也开始经济衰退。

2000年代，自Daro、Matu通车后，Matu一带居民都到Daro办货，Matu生意一落千丈。年轻一代更到外求生，留在Matu镇的人家不到5 户。河上运输更是步入夕阳。

2010年代，Daro直接通车到诗巫Sibu市，同时也通往丹端马尼Tanjung Manis、Sarikei。不过从Sarikei到Matu车程需约三小时，且须过3 渡轮。

Present

那天，咱们5人八时半从Sarikei出发。由破浪的6307道直往民丹莪Bintangor，然后转右入丘陵的6102道，再入破浪的6308A直往Paradom。
在Paradom 路口转左，还RM5塔渡轮过拉让江Batang Rajang 到Igan，再转左入3104道驾驶约一小时往Tanjung Manis。经2大桥后达路口，左往Tanjung Manis,右往Daro。
转右后不久到达Batang Paloh河蚌，塔渡轮过河到Pulau Bruit。一路经过无数马来村后达 Batang Lassa河蚌。因河口宽阔、河水涌急、偶尔又遇浪，渡轮每来回一次需约一小时。
过了Batang Lassa 就离Daro不远了，可是到达时也已十二时半了。
全程共四小时，耗RM25车油、RM7渡轮费（全程以粗红线画）。相比塔船一小时、RM18船费，5人乘车费用虽便宜，却耗时费神。

Alternate Universe

不过，若以蓝线沿Muara Payang建路接Tanjung Manis路口，相信从 Sarikei到 Daro的车程可以减至一小时。
往Tanjung Manis再造一条直通路，不但带动Sarikei经济，制造就业机会，也减少运输费，又不碍Pulau Bruit和Igan的发展。为国为民，有益无害，何乐不为？



GTP ( Government Transformation Programme ) : Another Lie ?
After almost 50 years in Malaysia, most area in rural Sarawak still have no supply of clean water, electricity or even roads...
Can GTP builds driveable roads to connect all towns in Sarawak ?
Can GTP brings clean water to Matu, Daro, and all other rural towns ?
Can GTP ensures uninterupted DC to rural areas ?