SESB inviting suits: LDP, SAPP
Published on: Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Kota Kinabalu: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Youth urged the Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) to start serious and drastic actions to quell the criticisms against it."What is happening now must not be let on. By not supplying sufficient electricity to the public, SESB is actually exposing themselves to legal suits."SESB could be liable for any losses or damage suffered by the general public which are attributable to their omission," said LDP Youth Political and Legal Bureau Chief, Taang Hieng Yee, in a statement here, Tuesday.
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He said he longed for the day when the electricity industry is no longer monopolised."By opening it up and allowing fair competition, I strongly believe the electricity problem in Sabah will be eradicated."We have enjoyed the benefit of low airfare provided by the free airline industry and low mobile phone rate provided by the free mobile network industry."Surely, we can have the same for the electricity industry. Time will tell as to whether I am merely building a castle in the air," he said, adding that the electricity failure has again become very serious in Sandakan lately.
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"Not that it was not serious in the past but that it has now come to a very alarming stage, so much so that Sandakan people have become furious and vindictive. Blackout has become a daily affair," he said.Taang said there was not price for guessing that businesses, governmental departments, traffic facilities and other social and civil service are put on standstill during the blackout.
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Foreign investors are hesitant to invest in Sandakan as there is always no electricity, thus hampering development, he added."People have associated power failure to Sandakan so much so the slogan that 'if there is no power failure, it will not be Sandakan'," he said, adding the situation had raised many questions and seemed unbelievable that in this 21st century era there is still a place on earth where electricity is not provided at ease but constantly interrupted.Based on the briefing given by SESB to Sandakan MP Datuk VK Liew and Karamunting Assemblyman Datuk Peter Pang last month, Taang said they were told that the main reason for the power shortage is actually due to the often breakdown of the generators at the plants.Situation becomes worse when a few generators break down at the same time, which probability is not remote, though it may seem so and which is already proven by what is happening to Sandakan now.Surely, he said short, medium and long-term measures had been developed to solve the problem, including the immediate purchase of smaller scale generators to replace the missing megawatts, the purchase of spare parts to repair the broken-down generators and the search for a novel and effective power generation.If the present maintenance regime is not working well, Taang said SESB should consider getting somebody from overseas or the maintenance team, which is based in the State Capital must improve."New leadership may also need to be brought in. Mentality and working attitude of the team personnel ought to be set towards the right direction. The end result of the entire department ought to be improved," he said.Meanwhile, Tawau MP Datuk Chua Soon Bui, taking cue from the recent anti-ISA demonstration in the federal capital causing millions of lost revenues to businesses, said Sabahans should also get proper compensation for their hardships due to power failures.Citing the example where business proprietors who lost their income because of the demonstration were told to claim from the organisers of the demonstration, she said the residents in Tawau should claim from SESB for incurred losses because of power failures."The people are fed up with the situation as there seems to be no end to the problem. Places like Sin Onn are faced with power cuts of between six and seven hours last Sunday alone," she said, adding such disruptions would surely cause damage to the industries and business sectors."People in Tawau must be compensated in some way over the hardship faced due to the disruption and Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and SESB must hold responsibility," she said.She also claimed the fact that no one was answering the SESB's hotline was also an insult to the public.Chua stressed the continuing power supply problem did not mirror the 1Malaysia concept because people here clearly did not get to enjoy the privileges given to other Malaysians in this respect as the country's top leadership are practising the concept of people first.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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