SOO LINA ELECTION MANIFESTO

MANIFESTO: A FAIR DEAL FOR SARAWAK

I am SOO LINA, your INDEPENDENT candidate for N11 Batu Lintang.
Vote for Me to be your Representative and your Voice in Sarawak.
Put TRUST back into Politics.
Don’t settle for Sour Promises.
I will serve the RAKYAT, the whole RAKYAT and no one but the RAKYAT.
No Kowtowing to Corrupt Politicians and self-serving leaders with selfish ambitions.
I will Protect Sarawak and Fight Corruption with all my might.
I am equipped to do that with an MBA from Leicester University, UK.
We Love our Fair Land Sarawak.
Make Sarawak a PARADISE for your Children and your Grandchildren.
Use your VOTE wisely to make it happen.

THIS IS MY CONTRACT WITH YOU, THE RAKYAT.
____________________________________________________

1. FEDERAL CONSTITUTION and 1963 MALAYSIA AGREEMENT
We want a review to institute enduring rectifications to do justice to Sarawak.

2. 20-POINTS AGREEMENT to safeguard state autonomy and rights

• There shall be no state religion;
• Malay should be the national language and English should be the official
language without limitation of time;
• The Constitution of Malaysia should be a completely new document drafted and
agreed in the light of a free association of states and should not be a
series of amendments to a Constitution drafted and agreed by different
states in totally different circumstances;
• Borneonisation of the civil service should proceed as quickly as possible;
• Representation in Federal Parliament should take account not only of the
population but also of its size and potentialities.

3. OIL AND GAS RESOURCES
Sarawak signed away its oil and gas rights in 1976 to PETRONAS for a mere 5% royalty. We ask for 50% royalty and compensation for the way we have been shortchanged for 35 years.

4. EDUCATION
All students should stand equal chance to enter and graduate from a university. Chinese and mission schools should receive a fixed annual allocation of 80% of the allocation for national schools. The UEC should be recognized by the Malaysian government unconditionally.

5. HEALTHCARE
Healthcare must be accessible and affordable, with special emphasis on the healthcare needs of women and children.

6. LAND ASSETS
No Sarawakian need be homeless. Native customary land rights must be respected. Residential homes with 60-year leases shall be converted to perpetuity or 999 statuses. Strata titles for condominiums, apartments and commercial units must be issued within two years of purchase.

7. EMPLOYMENT
Jobs in civil service and GLCs must be fairly distributed amongst the races, and meritocracy to be taken into account in career advancement. The Sarawak Labour Ordinance must be urgently updated to protect Sarawakians more efficiently than existing Malaysian labour law.

8. POVERTY ERADICATION AND WEALTH DISTRIBUTION
The economic pie must be enlarged, and distributed equitably, not favouring only groups of people in the corridors of power. All communities must have opportunity to a better life, better infrastructure and better quality of life.

9. ZERO TOLERANCE FOR CORRUPTION
The MACC must investigate all allegations into abuse of power and corruption by Sarawak politicians immediately, without fear or favour, and all ill-gotten gains must be returned to the people of Sarawak.

10. A GREEN FUTURE
We must protect our land, rainforests, rivers, fauna and wildlife for our future generations. We want a moratorium on forest logging and monoculture of oil palm which destroys irreparably our biodiversity and natural resources.

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宣言：给砂劳越一个公平的交易

我是徐丽娜，您N11峇都林当的独立候选人。
恳请投我一票，让我成为您的代表、您的声音。
请将信任置回政治。
勿满足于空承诺。
我会全心全意、致力于为人民服务。
不向有自私野心的腐败领导者“叩头”。
我会竭尽所能，不论种族、信仰，为我们砂劳越人保护砂劳越、反腐败。
持着英国莱斯特大学工商管理硕士，我相信我有能力做到。
我们都爱我们的砂劳越。
让砂劳越成为您孩子、您孙子的天堂。
请明智利用您的投票权让它成真。

这是我和您（人民）的盟约。

1. 1963 马来西亚协议和联邦宪法
过了48年，我们要求复审并作出改正，以还砂劳越一个公道。

2. 〈独立二十条款〉保护砂劳越州自治权和权利：
• 没有官方宗教；
• 不受时间限制，马来文是国家语言，英文是官方语言；
• 新的马来西亚的宪法必须全新草拟及由各州同意。它不应以马来亚宪法为修改基础。
• 沙巴和砂劳越公共服务系统应尽早本土化。
• 联邦议会上的代表权的划分应考虑到-除了人口以外-土地大小及潜能。

3. 油和煤气资源
1976年，砂劳越把其石油和煤气的权利签让给了马来西亚石油公司（PETRONAS），换回了仅仅5%的石油使用费。我们要求 50%的石油使用费，以弥补35年来少给的。

4. 教育
所有学生应享有进入大学的平等机会。中华和教会学校应享有固定的资金分配-国有学校所得的80%。独中统一考试应被马来西亚政府无条件承认。

5. 医疗保健
我们要求医疗保健更方便及更容易负担，也强调注重妇女和儿童的医疗保健。

6. 土地资产
没有砂劳越人应无家可归。原住民传统习俗地拥有权必须受捍卫。地契60年或以下的房屋应将地契改为永久或999年。公寓及商业单位的拥有权利必须在两年内转到公寓、商业单位拥有者名下。

7. 就业
政府和政府相关公司的岗位必须公平分布于各种族，并任人唯贤。砂劳越劳工条例必须立即更新，比马来西亚劳工条例更好地保护砂劳越人。

8. 杜绝贫穷和财富分配
经济饼必须扩大，并均匀分配，不能只赐部分有权利的人。所有社区必须享有平等机会获得更好的生活、基础设施和生活素质。

9. 杜绝腐败
反贪污委员会（MACC）必须立即無所畏懼亦無所偏袒地调查所有砂劳越政治家滥用职权和贪污的指控，将不法之财还给砂劳越人民。

10. 绿色的未来
我们必须为我们的后代保护我们的土地、热带雨林、河流、动物区系及野生动物。我们呼吁暂停树林砍伐和油棕的单一种植。油棕的单一种植对我们的生物多样性及天然资源造成不能逆转的严重破坏。


Your Independent Candidate for N11 Batu Lintang

Soo Lina

Soo Lina, Independent Candidate for N11 Batu Lintang

Dear friends,

WHO AM I AND WHAT DO I STAND FOR?

I am Soo Lina, your candidate for Batu Lintang constituency.
I am 52 years old, of Hokkien and Hakka descent, born and bred in Kuching.
I possess an MBA (Masters in Business Administration) from the University of Leicester, England.
I am a single mother who single-handedly raised one daughter, Emily Ngu, from the age of three to become a Singapore ASEAN scholarship student, university graduate and manager in an international bank in Singapore.

WHY SHOULD YOU VOTE FOR ME?

I am a full time politician. No job. No business. 100% for you.
I am independent, unlike my rivals who are committed to SUPP or Parti Keadilan Rakyat.
They have to dance to party-tunes. They have to toe party line.
I can be your voice without fear or favour.
BECAUSE my political master is YOU, the rakyat.

This is my covenant with you.

I AM A WOMAN WHO DARES TO FIGHT FOR YOU.

For the women, believe in me to fight for you and your family.
This is your chance to choose a woman representative after the male YBs have failed you and your families for not voicing out your concerns as a woman.
After 50 years, this is your chance to choose a woman representative as only a woman knows how another woman feels.

WHAT I BELIEVE IN

I believe in justice, fairness and equality. I believe you deserve better.

• You and your family deserve a better life, living in a secure environment with the best healthcare
• An excellent welfare system for all the hard-core poor, regardless of race and religion
• All students stand equal chance to enter and graduate from a university
• All men & women deserve to earn a good living, regardless whether they are bumi or non-bumi
• All families deserve to own a house, rich or poor
• The Government should provide excellent infrastructures and facilities for all
• The Government and the civil service must provide excellent services and welfare to all the people at all times, especially to those facing extreme hardship.

WHAT IS MY PLAN?

I will make plans accordingly, in line with my manifesto.

• I will make sure your life will change for the better, through engaging
the government to do more for all Malaysians, by voicing your grievances and your needs
• I will push for better infrastructures to be built in your constituency, by constant monitoring and surveying the constituency areas and putting forward your demands, needs and plans
• I can do much more which I will continue to reveal as time progresses

I WILL PRESENT MY MANIFESTO VERY SOON.

 What are the priority issues in Malaysia?
 What are the priority issues in Sarawak?
 What are the priority issue in Kuching?
 What are the priority issues in our Batu Lintang constituency?
 How do these issues affect you and your beloved families?

These issues have been there for donkey years. These issues have not been solved because nobody really want to bring them up and solve them. There was no willpower to change anything. In the past only petty issues have been brought up that bring no impact upon our lives. We continue to be losers year in and year out in each election - before, during and after the election. Now YOU can choose to change all that.


WHAT AM I GOING TO DO ABOUT THEM?

My contract with you is that I will do everything I can to change and improve the system and the environment of Batu Lintang.
I will establish a service centre and a mobile office-vehicle to serve the people of Batu Lintang.
I am going to fight for you and your families like you have never seen before.
I can make the government sweat.

VOTE FOR SOO LINA

Your candidate,

Soo Lina

6 March 2011

Kampung Semban @ Bengoh Dam Sarawak

Kampung Semban @ Bengoh Dam Sarawak

Kampung Semban @ Bengoh Dam Sarawak Borneo

‘This Land Is My Home’

Nestled atop a mountain in Bengoh, Padawan sits a Bidayuh Biatah village called Kampung Semban.

To reach Kampung Semban at 1000 feet above sea level, one takes a six-hours’ trek through jungle trails passing bamboo groves, paddy fields, pepper vines, rubber trees, durian orchards and umpteen bamboo bridges, amidst cool breezes and the gushing waters of the streams and waterfalls.

At the summit, one is rewarded with spectacular views of the golden sunrise over the magnificent Bungo range, the billowing clouds forming a feather canopy over the valleys and with the fresh mountain air rushing into one’s lungs, Kampung Semban is indeed a place close to heaven.

The Bidayuh Biatah have been living in this mountainous region for generations. The crowded ancestral graveyard lying next to the kampong is testimony to the passage of time.

Every day at sunrise, early morning sees the village menfolk scaling the hills to till the soils and hunt in the jungle while the womenfolk collect firewood, jungle produce and edible insects such as ants. Rain or shine, this is the only life they have known.

In the evening tranquility, womenfolk string bead necklaces and weave rattan bracelets, menfolk tune and play the bamboo xylophone. On occasions, menfolk will take out the percussion gongs and the womenfolk in traditional garb will perform the eagle dance.

Time here, indeed has been dancing the slow waltz over the last few hundred years.

And what is so special about Kampung Semban ladies is its remaining treasure of seven ladies with brass rings on their legs and arms, the eldest more than 80 years old, the youngest more than sixty years old. During their time, a baby girl had to start wearing them from a very tender age if she hoped to get her hand asked for at a marriageable age.

Just lately the government has started to construct the Bengoh dam, a good few hundred feet below Kampung Semban. Development has come a-knocking on their door. When Bengoh dam is completed, life for the village folks may change for the better, or for the worse.

One thing is certain: if the people of Kampung Semban who know of no other place to call home are persuaded to move, life will have to restart from the beginning – a new place to build a home, a new area to begin a new farmland, a new resting place for the ancestral bones.

Through this ‘politics of development’, they are persuaded to relocate, and with this displacement they risk waiving their rights to the traditional lands which their forefathers braved battles and sacrificed heads for territorial claim to farm, live and die in a place they wish to call ‘home’ for themselves and their offspring.


Their future lies in the hands of the government that promises that they are not to be left in the lurch in the name of development.

FACEBOOK AND TWITTER: TRENDS AND THREATS

The Sarawak Club CSR Programme

Facebook and Twitter have fused technology and social interaction in a radically different approach to how people live, play and work today, co-creating influence and value.

Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, and more famously known as the world’s youngest billionaire at the age of 26 with a personal worth of US$7 billion, said in a CBS interview, “I think what we have found is that when you can use products with your friends and your family and the people you care about, they tend to be more engaging. It includes not only what you do and what you like but people you know and what they like and the companies you interact with”.

Recently, The Sarawak Club, in collaboration with Lina Soo and SEACEM (Southeast Asian Centre for e-Media) presented a talk on social media to explore how Facebook and Twitter have revolutionized communications to transform the very way we conduct our social networking, reinvent our business model and pursue our causes. The speaker, from Kuala Lumpur, Mr Sean Ang, is executive director of SEACEM who travels around the region to speak on the influence, value and reach of e-media, and also on the challenges in ICT posed by social media networking platforms.

The Sarawak Club is Sarawak’s oldest social club, and possibly the oldest in Malaysia, established in 1873. The forum is an intiative to kickstart the Club’s CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) programme where part of the proceeds from the sale of wine and tapas are channelled towards the Club’s Community Chest for deserving causes and charities.

Mr Richard Wee, deputy president of The Sarawak Club officiated the event.

Workshop: ICT And Cyber Violence Against Women

Information Communication Technologies (ICT) is a double-edged sword. Whilst ICT has created unlimited opportunities in social networking and business, at the same time abuse of the Internet and mobile phone has brought new forms of bullying and harassment against women. ICT has become the ideal platform to publish indecent information to exploit, embarrass and harm women. This violence against women which includes cyber harassment and defamation threatens the privacy and security of women which is taking on alarming proportions by the day.

In January 2011, Lina Soo in collaboration with Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor organized a women’s workshop in Kuching to create awareness of the threats and threats of ICT and to strengthen strategic use of ICT to combat this burgeoning problem. Practical skills on social networking applications such as Facebook, Twitter and Blogger formed part of the programme to empower the women participants to create safe digital spaces that protect every woman’s right to participate freely, without harassment or threat to safety.

There is a need for women to work together to alert our governments to develop effective regulation and policies to ensure the privacy, security and safety of women in ICT.

Galas By-Election, 4 Nov 2010