To all my Chinese readers, may the Year of the Water Dragon brings you happiness, success and filled with peace, hope and togetherness of your family and friends….Wishing you Gong Xi Fa Cai!

As we enjoy our iced lemon tea, we heard of rumours that Katibas may field a new face. But CM is also still in favour of the incumbent too. Anyway, anything can happen and we can only guess.

Tomorrow, 16th September, Malaysians will be celebrating the 47th anniversary of the formation of Malaysia. Malaysia was formed together with the Federation of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore. The later left Malaysia in 1965 and became an independent city state.

Malaysia is a country which has successfully nurtured tolerance among the people, encouraged national integration and at the same time safeguarded the interests of all races. And, we should be proud being a Malaysian!

We made a quick visit this evening to see if the correct flag has been use. Yupp… the header has been changed and the correct flag being used.

Thank you to the State Information Dept for their fast action to notify the webmaster of the portal. However, the usage of the wrong flag is widely used in Sarawak, which could show the lack of patriotism among Sarawakian today.

Maybe the Information Dept can issue a directive to all agencies, corporate bodies and the media on the correct flag (both horizontal and vertical versions) and their way of usage. During the time of writing this post, we have observed that three types of flag have been wrongly displayed, including the latest one, which uses a ‘fat’ star.

There must be a mechanism to check that the suppliers of the state flag supply the correct one to the public. Worst to worst, the state flag should only be produced/supply by authorised supplier(s) of the state government.

Till then.. selamat hari raya aidilfitri, maaf zahir dan batin to all my muslim readers.

JAMESJG.COM is also confused of which one is the real OFFICIAL version. Look at the pointed end of the star. One is pointing upwards (as shown in the explanation area) and the other have the pointed end pointing downwards (as shown on the header banner).

We hope the Information Department can call for a press conference on which is the OFFICIAL version and how it should be hang.. since our actual Independence Day is fast approaching in September.

JPG format

And here is the PNG format which you can use too, for free.

The idea for the cover design comes from our Iban pua kumbu. The red, yellow, black and white colors are of our State flag as well as regular colors for Iban weaving.

This tri-language dictionary is a must for those who wish to visit the interior of Sarawak where people speaks mostly Iban and Malay.

Thank you to Jaya Ramba, the editor for giving me a free copy. It is sold at RM25 per unit at bookstores in major towns in Sarawak. Get yours today!

Received my copies of Right To Land Right To Heritage from the Malaysian Environmental NGOs today. Two of our ancestral pua kumbu was included as pictorial in the publication. Get your copy from MENGO now.

JAMESJG.COM would like to thanks Dr.Sundari Ramakrishna of MENGO Support Unit, and Eleanor Chen, the Consultant Editor for EcoLogical footPrints for featuring the Iban pua.

by Abdul Hakim Bujang
SarawakUPdate.com

In the land named Malaya a tiny adjustment of bus fare during festive season will trigger a free for all in prime time news.

Here on this soil named Sarawak, the biggest celebration is probably Gawai Dayak, and the business community would be feasting on the poor consumers. The preying on customer will be a bigger occasion, much merrier than Gawai itself.

Where are the native champion?
No by election. So all the boisterous native champion have gone back to enjoy their big salaries, comfortable life and chauffeured in brand new cars – of course courtesy of the government – Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat, alike.

I doubt the UMNO sponsored and PR financed bloggers would be bothered to investigate the real problem faced by the natives as the mad rush for votes had stopped.

By the way, where are the concern activist of Pakatan Rakyat not going on the ground the way they did during by election? Where are the Barisan Nasional youth? Now is the time for you to do something for the small people and kick these irresponsible people in the butt. You promised to serve the Rakyat right, or simply want to bodek Anwar Ibrahim and Mohd Najib only?

Where are CVLB and RTD officers?
I cannot blame Ong Tee Keat, because he is probably very worried on his status now that he will not be able to perform his duty as Transport Minister. I cannot blamed god for taking the Deputy Transport Minister prior to Gawai. I think our Prime Minister had to do something.

Early this morning, my good friend called from Miri. He said the cashier of Freesia (bus company) demanded him to pay RM90 for each ticket from Miri to Saratok although the published fare was RM72 per person.

When asked about it, the girl (at the counter) said the new rate was approved by the bus taukeh. Who needs Minister to approve a fare hike in Sarawak?

I am not making up this story. There is no need for me to make an SD. I have very reliable source. I am sure Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) chairman and Road Transport Department (RTD) will say I am just creating rumours.

Since they are likely to say that I was making a wild assumption, so let me name my source as James Joshua Guang, an EXCO of Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) youth movement.

James said Freesia is not the only bus company doing that but want RTD to send officers incognito to find out whether the problem also affect other poor travellers wishing to celebrate Gawai at their respective village.

“Customers should be refunded immediately,” James demanded.

Only the poor, and not very rich will be taking bus home. The rich definitely will fly home using helicopter or driven in huge SUV. The average Joe and family probably will driving their own car home.

I have called up a long lost friend Mohd Shaani Abdullah of National Consumers Complaint Centre and I am sure he will help us to address this issue. We believed that Saratok bus fare is just the tip of the iceberg, and its time for Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat activist to go down and talk to Rakyat. Now!

* The writer is considering to register SarawakUpdate.com in Kalimantan because we are not allowed to use Sarawak name in our trade license when trying to register this morning. The Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri staff at the counter no 4 is without name tag and need serious SMILING training. Not so many people but the face as if having to entertain three million customer in five hours.