YB Datuk Amar State Secretary visits Sri Aman

After a meaningful lecture from my missus on my two previous posts, I will now resume my serious Nadai Nama nature to talk about development in Sri Aman. No more 'The Boy Who Cry Wolf' postings she told me. Yea.... she's the boss and so I have to abide by the directive. Incidently - the Civil Service boss did come knocking on Sri Aman's door last week. His intention was to see what is the progress of development in Sri Aman. Development is serious matter and so is the visit by the State Secretary of Sarawak to Sri Aman as his decisions carry weight especially on development initiatives. His arrival would mark my fourth month in Sri Aman and I had to make sure everything was in order, what more with the just ending Hari Raya it would be hard to restart those in holiday mode. Most of the staff are on holiday and on leave. But I should say bravo to most of the Civil Servants here because they canceled or deferred their leave to assist our Resident Office in making this a smooth and memorable visit for the State Secretary.

After getting lost in Sri Aman with YB Datuk Patinggi Deputy Chief Minister, I had my team ready this time. I assembled the best guys in Sri Aman and waited for the State Secretary's entourage at the Temudok junction into Sri Aman. YB Datuk Amar SS knows his way around town but I had the three Police escorts this time with a mobile trooper headed by the Traffic Chief himself.

The Eagle has landed - YB Datuk Amar was escorted to Rumah Sri Aman where he was greeted warmly by the various Heads of Departments. So LISA did not get me this time.

Stumbin - Bijat briefing which was about 40 minutes journey from Sri Aman Town: the briefing was done on the field regarding the potential of Sri Aman which is set to be the main contributor to the Rice Bowl of Malaysia (Jelapang Padi) of the country

YB Datuk Amar State Secretary visits the Hospital Bahagian Sri Aman and signs the Guest Book at the Dialysis Ward. A briefing on the hospital was conducted by Dr. Irene Wong at the Conference Room.

The Sri Aman Hospital picture in the early 60s presented by Dr. Irene in her briefing

The Sri Aman Hospital is still at the original site (except for the modernisation of the perimeters) - it seriously needs a modern touch and the state of the art medical facilities

During the visit YB Datuk Amar was shown around the hospital - the lack of modern facilities and skilled doctors mean that the patients with serious conditions have to be brought to Kuching - a three hours ride in agony for patients with serious conditions. Currently there is only one anaesthetic machine at the hospital which also means that if there is more than one case of emergency that requires anaesthetics, the other patient will have to wait in queue. So one can imagine the pain that the patient will have to endure. On top of that - the lack of ambulance also means that (in times of need) when some of the patients need to be transported to Kuching, they would have to wait for the other ambulance to arrive from Kuching. But no worries! The Hospital will offer those who can't wait to ride in a 'Kereta Mayat' or vehicle to transport dead bodies. Its is no joke, as that was the case explained to YB Datuk Amar State Secretary. On top of that there is a shortage of kidney dialysis machine too which forced most patients to opt for the more expensive treatments at private clinics and dialysis centres in Kuching. The test lab is also cramped and in need of larger space. I noticed that the blood specimen tests were placed next to urine sample tests and if there is a case of a mix up...yikes! We were indeed surprised that the Hospital has not recieved any VIP Visitors from the Ministry of Health in Kuala Lumpur apart from our concerened YB Datuk Amar State Secretary. The Federal Ministry of Health has also indicated that there are plans for a new hospital and also proposal to upgrade the facilities but that was as far back as the Seventh Malaysia Plan. To date none of the compnents of the Plan as materialised even as we are in the middle of the Ninth Malaysia Plan now. As of now, the Sri Amanians are hoping and hoping and hoping. I will try my best to carry out the YB State Secretary's pledge to see that this project is realised.

Sri Aman Town of the Future

The YB Datuk Amar State Secretary was brought around to see other ongoing projects around Sri Aman which is set to change the Town's landscape. Amongst others (apart from the Seed Processing Centre) there is the Sri Aman Tidal Bore Watch Station, the Batang Lupar Riverine Park, the Customs, Immigration and Quaratine (CIQ) Office at the Lubok Antu - Indonesian Badau Complex and the Sri Aman Town Extension Plan. Currently three modern District Offices of Lubok Antu, Engkilili and Lingga are being built simultaneously and set to be completed in 2009.

YB Datuk Amar being briefed on the progress of the Tidal Bore project which is spearheaded by the Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID)

Artist impression of the Seed Production and Processing Centre at Stumbin

Brieifing YB Datuk Amar State Secretary on the progress of the Engkilili District Office - I was accompanied and supported by the Lubok Antu Distict Officer, Mr. Nelson Mujah

The artist impression of the future District Offices

Fort Alice was not neglected in the visiting plan as we brief YB Datuk Amar on the effort to also raise this matter up to the Federal Ministry of Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage

The Sri Aman Town Extension Plan - briefing by the LCDA General Manager Mr. Abdullah Chek

Artist Impression of CIQ Complex at Lubok Antu

Artist Impression of Batang Lupar Riverine Park

I have not mentioned of the other developments that are taking place intensively around town which includes the Police Diraja Malaysia Complexes at Temudok and also in Lubok Antu. The challenge is trying to ensure that the development here is not stalled and they become abandoned projects. With the ongoing economic turmoil around the world we do hope our contractors are not badly affected. It is everyone's hope that this quiet town becomes more vibrant. Anyway, I am glad that the boss was happy and that there were no 'unwanted' incidents - like getting lost again. Our hope is that the decisions made from this trips would bear fruit.

The night ended with a Majlis Ramah Tamah with the YB State Secretary - and I had the opportunity to meet up with Mr. Anthony Luta (purple & yellow batik) who happened to be my wedding emcee and with Mr. Jack Aman (Mr. Anthony is currently the Secretary for Betong District Council and Jack is the Secretary for the Sri Aman District Council)

Screening through the local papers - the Utusan Sarawak had indeed published about the Bus Accident (also highlighted in my previous blog). 'Kuasa Ghaib Punca Bas Terbabas' means that the Bus Crash was due to some supernatural causes. Didn't I say there was some scary elements in the incident? I could have reported that the bus driver was distracted by 'Bigfoot' who was crossing the road or something like that. In Johor, Bigfoot sightings caused an influx of Singaporean tourists into Sri Aman. With headlines like Big Foot sightings at Fort Alice - the tourism arrivals in Sri Aman would improve especially those from Singapore! Let's see who if I can get hold of a wandering Singaporean to do this bidding for me :)

Oops...I got a beep from Danny who will be coming from Sinapore next week!