A Brigde Too Far

by INVISIBLEWRITER001

The Prime Minister mentioned today that the government is considering building a bridge from Kota Kinabalu to Labuan. This bridge hopefully would help to spur the economy in Labuan.
Unfortunately a few days ago, the same government did say that they don’t have enough allocation to build new hospital in Kota Kinabalu.

Many Sabahan would have known how congested Queen Elizabeth Hospital is right now. The situation was made worsen when the main block was discovered to be structurally unsafe.

I think the government should look into this matter again. Hospital is one of the basic necessities that should be provided by the ruling government, and so does bridge. In this case, the ruling government has a difficult task to decide which is best for the rakyat, which I don’t think it is such a difficult decision to make.

I think the government should build a new hospital to deal with congestion at the QE Hospital.

The rakyats well being should be foremost in the government’s mind. Well, you cannot deny the fact that the state’s economy is also important.

At this point of time, I don’t think Labuan deserves a bridge. The island doesn’t have the volume, capacity or robust industry to merit a bridge. How many cars you think would cross over to the island everyday?

Labuan is nothing like Penang where the island itself is an economy on its own. Penang should be another bridge (3rd) to choke the traffic on the island. But that’s another story to tell.

What needed to be done is to boost the economy on Labuan. Once the growth on the island surpasses certain mark, then a bridge should be considered.

At the parliament last week, one of the MPs from Sabah was asking about the promised royalty from Oil & Gas business for the people of Sabah. He was wondering whether all these promises are merely gula-gula to sweeten the mind of Sabahan? Sabahan don’t need gula-gula. What they need is the real deal. I think a new hospital would be able to show to the Sabahan that the Federal Government is really serious about their well being.

I’m not sure about the halal hub in Labuan. I’m not trying to be skeptical but I have reservation about the workability of the said halal hub. I’m trying to figure out the rational to locate it in Labuan. Its mind boggling.

The government should consider establishing it in Kota Kinabalu. There are more demands there and if they decided to turn it into a regional halal hub, there are more international flights there. They won’t have problem with manpower if it is in Kota Kinabalu. Whatever it is, I hope it won’t turn into another useless ‘wheel hub’.

A hospital could well win the hearts of Sabahan. A bridge to Labuan may not be something that they really need right now. Come to think of it, only the federal government can turn this into reality. Even with enough money, I don’t think the state government can pull this off. They’re to disunite. There’re too many parties ruling the state.

I strongly believe the Sabahan deserves a new hospital. The time is now, while the ruling government still has support from Sabah. And remember, Sabah holds the key to BNs future in parliament. They Sabahan might play their trump card well this time around. There are some dissident voices among Sabahan MPs in the ruling party. It’s high time for us to listen to their predicaments, more than before.