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Friends:

The following article appeared in almost the whole form in Daily Express Sunday Forum today – 12/07/09. I append below my full original version. 1Malaysia, 1Democracy – By The People, Of The People And For The People (People as in All Citizens).

Green Power Engineer (DE Forum 05/07/09) has gone over-board by bringing up unrelated issues and being personal. Why doesn’t he use the cyberspace to answer issues raised there? Is he afraid he would become a laughing stock?

Not withstanding his weird stand, allow me to answer him. 

Looks like he is trying to re-brand himself – Started writing as ‘Power Engineer’ has now turned himself into ‘Green Power Engineer’ (GPE). Does he really think by adding ‘Green’ he thus becomes green? A rose by any other name will smell the same and so will any discharge from the rear orifice.

For some the only ‘green’ they know and understand is the “greenback”. Probably he is being handsomely paid with “greenbacks”. In other words, there is gold in coal for those willing to make the dirty bucks. Being wealthy is not a crime unless the wealth is obtained through illegal or unethical means……………

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I REFER to "WWF Opposes Coal Plant Wherever Sited In Sabah" (DE 17.6.09).

I respect their stand against coal because they are the self-appointed global protector of nature and wildlife. I would even support them to oppose coal plant anywhere on earth.

    "However, I am shocked that they suggested building more power grid lines and getting power supply from the Bakun Dam. Their director Dr Rahimatsah, a PhD holder, should know that building more power grid will involve cutting all the tall trees along a corridor of two chains (40.2m) width for the high tension wires to pass through.

    What more if we build this grid which is actually a transmission line to connect Sabah with the Bakun Dam in Sarawak. Will the forestry departments of both Sabah and Sarawak allow some of their forest to be cut through just like what happened when the East West Grid was constructed. There was a hullabaloo when the line passed through the edge of Tambunan Rafflesia Reserve.

    I would have thought that WWF was against the construction of Bakun because a large area of trees had to be cut and flooded to form the storage reservoir and both nature and wild life had to be destroyed in the process. I am shocked on hearing this coming from WWF the nature protector……….

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THE power supply situation in our State does not appear to improve and this could potentially affect the government in the next elections.

        We have time and again been assured that measures are being implemented for the betterment of the service, but year after year it’s the same situation. In fact the blackouts have now worsened to the stage that load shedding even implemented by service provider, SESB, as they could not supply sufficient power to meet the demand.

        I believe billions of ringgits had been spent by the Government. But the fact is that nothing has changed and I tend to think that something must be very wrong with SESB, beginning with the core structure of the management who should have put into action plans that are able to solve our woes.

        Which leads people to wonder whether the people heading SESB have any knowledge about electricity generation.

         As an example, just in Sandakan alone 2 X 20MV GT, 1 X 14MV, 2 X 8.5MV, 1 X 5.0MV DG’s totaling 77.0MV are no forced outage and the SESB leadership is still adamant in blaming that the power woes are the fault of the IPP’s and not that as SESB’s own long resolved problems.

Extract from Daily Express Forum ,July 12th 2009.Pls see below full text :

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Kota Kinabalu: The Sandakan Chinese Chamber of Commerce (SCCC) has urged the State Government to seriously consider acquiring an 80 per cent stake in Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) from Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and take over the management of Sabah’s power supply.

"It is proven that TNB is incapable of looking after the welfare and interests of the people in Sabah. It is not right for TNB to make billions of ringgit yearly while forgetting about its social duty and commitment," said Secretary General, Stephen Wong Tien Fatt.

He said his statement was based on a Maybank investment analyst that TNB is optimistic that it would achieve RM10 billion profit for the third quarter of this year. TNB made RM4.7 billion in 2007 and RM3.02 billion in 2008.

"The residents of Sabah, particularly Sandakan, have been seriously affected by the threats of constant power cuts for at least a decade. The only body we could turn to is SESB, which claimed to be the problem solver in this matter.

"Yet SESB has repeatedly proved its failure and incompetence in solving the problem of power shortage in Sabah all this while," he said in a statement here Tuesday.

Pls see below full text & chinese text :

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Birth defects in China’s Shanxi province show the human price of coal.

TEN-year old Yilong is already a statistic.

Born at the centre of China’s coal industry, the boy is mentally handicapped and is unable to speak. He is one of many such children in Shanxi province, where coal has brought riches to a few, jobs for many, and environmental pollution that experts say has led to a high number of babies born with birth defects.

Experts say coal mining and processing has given Shanxi a rate of birth defects six times higher than China’s national average, which is already high by global standards.

“They looked normal when they were born.

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KOTA KINABALU: No decision has been made on relocating the controversial RM1bil coal-fired plant from the east coast Sandakan district.

Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman said the matter was still being studied by Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB).

“Let’s wait for them to complete their assessment on the matter first,” he told reporters Tuesday after launching a seminar on landslides and slope safety here.

Published: Tuesday June 30, 2009 MYT 2:15:00 PM

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In response to YB Datuk Raymond Tan’s statement on 21/06/2009 on Merdeka News the Coal Plant will not be built in Sandakan.

1. The committee rejoice and welcome the decision of the Government.  The committee is happy that the voice and will of Sandakan people is finally heard the committee thank the Chief Minister YB Datuk Musa Aman and the government on the wise decision.

2. Through the 1 year campaign since May 2008 till now, the committee encounter tremendous pressure to save guard the environment for our future generation.  It is the undivided support from the people of Sandakan that keep us through.  It is the victory of the Sandakan people.

3. The committee also wish to record the great appreciation and gratitude to the following during our process of campaign:-  

1. YB Datuk Raymond Tan
2. YB Datuk V.K Liew and Datuk Chin Shui Ping
3. YB Aw Kam Wah
4. YB Datuk Edmund Chong
5. YB Terresa Kok Of DAP
6. Datuk Yong Teck Lee and SAPP Supreme Council
7. Mr. Wong Teck and all SEPA Committee
8. The Press Media

4. However while the committee is happy that the Coal Plant is no more in Sandakan, the committee is still very much concern on the site of relocation.  The committee is strongly felt that Coal Plant should not be anywhere in Sabah, so as to preserve the natural heritage of Sabah beauty.  It is hope the Coal Plant will totally scrap and replace by other energy to power the Power Plant in Sabah.

Stephen Wong Tien Fatt

Chairman

Pls see below photo & chinese text .

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" (Sandakan, 21 June 2009) State Minister for Industrial Development Datuk Raymond SK Tan said, very surely, that no coal power plant will be built in Sandakan, therefore the people of Sandakan, including the Chinese Chambers of Commerce, should not worry about this matter anymore.

Tan, who is also the State Assemblyman for Tanjung Papat, said this when being interviewed after attending the "National Unity Week" opening ceremony.

The Minister pointed out that he knew that the people of Sandakan are very concerned about this matter, but now, he can very certainly say that: No coal power plant will be built in Sandakan, so the people of Sandakan can eliminate their worries in this regard.

He emphasised: The Chief Minister and me have repeatedly stressed that [we] will not do anything which the Sandakan people do not wish for, or any action which will hurt the Sandakan people, and at the same time I have done everything I should do, so please be confident in us!

Datuk Tan expressed this when being inquired about the recent incident in the State Assembly where a Barisan Nasional Assemblyman attacked a certain Municipal Councilor for allegedly opposing the Government’s development projects such as the coal power plant.

The Minister stressed that even he himself do not agree to the building of the coal power plant in Sandakan, therefore he did not criticise or disapprove of the individuals and organisations who are anti-coal power plant, including the Chinese Chambers of Commerce. Also earlier, when he was the Deputy Chief Minister, he had already conveyed the wishes of the Sandakan people to the Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak when they met personally. At that time, he was attending the meeting as the representative of Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Aman, and the meeting was called by Tenaga Nasional Berhad to discuss whether to build the coal power plant. During that meeting, he already very clearly expressed his own wishes and the wishes of the Sandakan people. And the Prime Minister himself at that time also felt that it was very unsuitable to build this coal power plant in Sandakan.

The Minister emphasised that the setting up of a coal power plant requires approval from the State Goverment, but the relevant parties still have not obtained this approval until today, therefore he hopes that the people of Sandakan and the relevant organisations do not ‘fan’/'exploit’ this issue anymore.

The Minister also said that even though the Chinese Chambers of Commerce is very concerned about the coal power plant issue, but I can already confirm that it will not be built in Sandakan, and therefore there should not be any more ‘fanning’/'exploiting’ of this issue. "

Above article translated from Berita Harian Merdeka , see below for full text :

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World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia will object to the setting up of a coal-fired power plant no matter where the location is in Sabah.

"As far as coal is concerned, our (WWF-Malaysia) stand is clearÉthere should be no coal-fired power plant in Sabah,"

He said aside from the eventual impact on the environment, the cost of the coal-fired power plant operation would also be enormous

"From Silam in Lahad Datu to Sandakan and now we heard it is going to be built in the Felda area (in the East Coast)," he said, adding the Felda area could be proposed since the people there are under a government scheme "so there would have no locus standi to object to it".

In this respect, he said WWF-Malaysia, as a global NGO, would record its objection if the proposal goes ahead in the Felda area.

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The ongoing ‘power rationing’ exercise by Sabah Electricity Sdn. Bhd. (SESB) has once again put the spotlight on the perennial power shortages which the people in this state have long suffered from. For many, these disruptions to daily economic and social activities can only be suffered in silence as it seems to be the norm.

The sole power utility in Sabah is the Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB), 80% owned by national utility giant Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), with the remaining 20% being owned by the Sabah state government.

The manner in which the Silam IPP project (also known as the 300MW coal-fired power plant project) was awarded in 2007 leaves much to be desired in the way of transparency and fair evaluation on the part of the federal government, and corporate governance on the part of TNB. For the first time, the federal government decided to undertake a tender exercise for an IPP project, with a supposed objective to obtain the best possible technical and commercial proposals.

 
When this tender closed, sometime in June 2006, a total of 13 bids were received, including one from a TNB subsidiary ie, TNB Remaco. The chronology of events, as shown below, subsequent to the tender closing gives substance to my earlier comments regarding transparency and corporate governance:

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