CORRUPTION INFECTS THE INTERNET

                                ( MUST READ)  CORRUPTION INFECTS THE INTERNET

Internet connectivity in Sarawak or rather the lack of it and the sheer numbers of complaints from Sarawakians on this matter have dramatically raised the level of public awareness on this increasingly critical 21st century utility. In the present environment of new normal, induced by the COVID.19 pandemic, high speed internet connectivity for every layer and corner of Sarawak’s communities will be instrumental in determining the outcome of the coming state elections. 

In response to this CM Abang Johari has taken it upon himself to personally champion the issue on behalf of his GPS state government and what a ‘fight’ he is putting up. Never has Sarawakians been more simultaneously confused and amused by the apparent contradictions between words and actions coming from Abang Johari.

In a news report on the 15th July 2020 the New Sarawak tribune reported Abang Johari’s admission that major telco companies did not want to use many of the telco towers constructed by agencies of the Sarawak government and by MCMC because it was not financially viable for these telco companies to do so.

https://www.newsarawaktribune.com.my/sma-to-operate-rural-internet-services/

The logical conclusion that rational Sarawakians arrived at after that statement is that the Sarawak government will cease to construct more telco towers and will start to look for viable alternative means to provide internet connectivity for Sarawakians, particularly for folks in rural Sarawak. 

Four months later, much to our surprise and chagrin, the Sarawak Multimedia Authority in conjunction with MCMC instead announced that more telco towers will be constructed. In fact the number of telco towers they were talking about was astounding: 1200 telco towers by 2023.

The world is developing satellite technology. Elon Musk and his start up, SpaceX/Starlink Plug & Play, is looking to provide high-speed, low latency internet down into your home from space. Access will be as simple as putting the device on a roof, fence, table or anywhere else with a clear view of the sky. If that happens (and you can bet your bottom dollar that it will happen) the towers will be landscaping curiosities for the mayas or orang utans.

https://www.theborneopost.com/2020/11/30/sma-mcmc-agree-to-ramp-up-broadband-connectivity-to-underserved-areas-in-sarawak/

So when, on the 26th Nov 2020 Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), without the financial resources of the same scale of the GPS government, announced that they have installed internet facilities in 8 schools in the Baleh constituency in Hulu Rejang, all hell broke loose. DCM James Masing and one of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) pol-sec lambasted PSB, saying PSB does not have the right to install internet facilities in these schools without prior permission from the federal ministry of education. It was astounding how these leaders of the GPS government of Sarawak prioritise bureaucracy instead of the obvious needs of Sarawakians. The movement control orders, necessitated by the COVID.19 pandemic had inhibited both teaching and learning, greatly affecting both teachers and students and yet all these were lost on these leaders of GPS. So what was it that caused all these contradictions?

https://www.theborneopost.com/2020/11/26/psb-to-install-satellite-broadband-at-1000-locations-in-swak-priority-for-rural-schools/

The proverbial Udang Disebalik Batu was in part revealed in the announcement made on SACOFA’s signing of MOUs with two of its partners. One of the party to the MOU is a local telco company called PP Telecommunication Sdn Bhd (PPtel). PPtel is partly owned by a son of a very prominent leader of the GPS government. And how much exactly is this udang galah that we are looking at? Well, it is on record that the Sarawak government had approved an allocation of RM1 billion and they are hoping that the Perikatan Nasional federal governemnt of which GPS is a part will match that allocation. In the horizon therefore is RM2 billion.

https://www.theborneopost.com/2020/10/07/sacofa-inks-ties-with-telco-industry-peers-to-benefit-sarawak/