Long Lapok, September 01 2010 --Villagers affected by the proposed road upgrading works between Beluru-Lapok held a protest outside a local coffee shop, Kedai Kopi Nyamai this afternoon. Armed with placards condemning the state government, some 80 villagers also chanted slogans during the 30-minute protest.
The protest is held as a response to the announcement made in last month by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who flew in a Black Hawk helicopter to Long Banga and declared “I will ensure that the RM100 million Beluru-Lapok Road is implemented.”
Long Banga is situated very close to the Sarawak-Indonesia border. It requires an eight to 10-hour drive from Miri, or one hour by helicopter.
The untarred Lapok Road, off the highway, is full of huge potholes; some so big they can swallow up a small car, which is a pride among the locals here. During the rainy season, the entire Lapok Road turns into a slush of mud, sand and loose stones. A spokesperson from Tourism Ministry who refused to give his identity revealed that the Tourism Ministry will make this into a niche tourism attraction for the gullible tourists.
Led by the Lapok Aggravated and Mistreated People’s Association (LAMPA) chairman Lipahim Tali, the protesters voiced their disapproval against the state government’s decision to upgrade the Lapok road.
Lipahim claimed that the road have important historical and cultural value, having existed for 40 years and should be preserved as native heritage in the state. The villagers are very happy with the current condition of the road.
“Historically, we are long staying residents here since the James Brooke era. We have the right to keep the road in its current state. We do not want it to be upgraded,” he said.
Some 16,000 villagers from the settlements and villages along the stretch from the Miri-Bintulu highway to Lapok Bazaar are affected by the proposed road upgrading works.
Cargo-transporter Tee Tok Kok regularly sends supplies to shops in Lapok Bazaar.
His five-tonne lorry had been damaged many times. Punctured tyres, twisted axles and rims are just some of the resulting troubles he had to put up with travelling along the road. But this is something Tee looks forward to as he aspires to be in Malaysian Book of Records for the vehicle owner with most frequently break down vehicle -- for category lorry below five tonne.
“During the rainy season, it is very risky travelling along this road, and that is the best time to travel for me. There have been times when I get stuck in the mud and cannot get out, and I truly enjoyed the experience. I am confident I will make it into Malaysian Book of Records soon,” he said.
“I hope the government will let us endure this for as long as it takes. Why is it that the Government leaders keep saying year after year that funds to repair Lapok Road has already been approved? We don’t need that. The government can use that fund for more important and better things like new State Legislative Assembly building or sending another space tourist.
Tee happily shared a video from his personal collection to all the readers.
LAPOK Bazaar is 120km from Miri city but the distance is not the problem. It is what you encounter along the Miri-Bintulu highway that makes the trip one you will not soon forget.
The untarred Lapok Road, off the highway, is full of huge potholes; some so big they can swallow up a small car.
During the rainy season, the entire Lapok Road turns into a slush of mud, sand and loose stones. Driving on then becomes not only a rough experience, it becomes dangerous.
Muddy: All sorts of vehicles can get stuck along this Miri-Lapok road that had remained in horrendous condition for the past 40 years.
The condition of the road is so bad that accidents and vehicle breakdowns are a daily event.
There are some 16,000 people living in settlements and villages along the stretch from the Miri-Bintulu highway to Lapok Bazaar.
They have to travel on this horrendous road every day to get to Miri to work, shop and school.
The Lapok Road was built 40 years ago and its condition has gone from bad to worse.
Cargo-transporter Teo Boon Seng regularly sends supplies to shops in Lapok Bazaar.
His five-tonne lorry had been damaged many times. Punctured tyres, twisted axles and rims are just some of the resulting troubles he had to put up with travelling along the road.
“During the rainy season, it is very risky travelling along this road, but I have no choice. Whenever the shops in Lapok run out of supplies, my boss in Miri will assign me to deliver these goods.
“There have been times when I get stuck in the mud and cannot get out. I have to call for help from tow-trucks,” he said.
“How much longer are we going to have to endure this? Why is it that the Government leaders keep saying year after year that funds to repair Lapok Road has already been approved?
“Where are the funds? If the funds had been channeled, why hasn’t repair work started?” Teo questioned.
Baram MP Datuk Jacob Dungau Sagan recently said a RM150mil budget for the repair and upgrading of the road had been approved by the Treasury Department.
He said the authorities were now in the process of hiring a contractor to repair the road.
I’m going to make it short. Real short this time because Noktah Hitam said, I can never write a short post.
2009 wrap-up
Start. Sold off old ride at a loss. Bought a new car. Ridden with more debts. Moved from KL to Miri. Made more new friends. I love Miri. Stayed at Hilltop, rented a room. Pissed off with the landlady, moved to Permyjaya, renting a house. Addicted to Twitter. Less blogging. Photog sessions. Bought my first baju raya, maroon colour. Went Raya visiting. Series of misfortunes. Blurry eyes. Family problem. Fucked up old man. Screwed by crazy dude. Almost. Relationship problem. Money problem. Knocked a lamp post. Escaped without a scratch. Car banged up real bad. Insurance paid RM8k to fix. Poor Sarah. Assigned to work at Lahad Datu. Flew so many times in 2009, kinda sick of it. I miss KL. The people. Lovely friends. No vacations this year. Philippines trip canceled. Typhoon. H1N1. Busy work schedule. Life is getting better. Good times with crazy friends. <3 them. Shit I use <3 in my blog! Bimbo much. Modeled for photoshoot. Sort of. Saja tumpang sekaki. Paid off big chunk of debts. Many friends getting married. Free N900 to play with. New job offer. Kuching here I come. Am so ready for 2010. End. Oh wait, I’ve changed my blog hosting too! End.
Leave you guys with these awesome pictures.
Meet Incredible Sergent Saunders N. Tharmendran, ‘double handedly’ carried two jet engines worth RM100 mil, sold it as scrap metals. Photo credit to Durvy.
This is how MU grabs your balls. Ref’s balls. Officials balls. Your balls. Literally. Spot this at a store in Lahad Datu. RM4.99 only. Cheap. And stretchable. Many puns memang intended.
Watched 2012 last night. Didn’t plan it in advance, Ras only asked me in the evening to join him and Luk for movie at 8pm. When we reached there, the seats for 8pm show were sold out. Then we decided to watch the 10pm show but only after much deliberations.
The reason was because there were no better seats to choose from, with only the 2 rows at the front left. Luk and I didn’t want to sit at the front rows. We walked away from the counter but after much coaxing from Ras, I let in and Luk had no choice but to follow us back to the ticketing counter .
In the end, we decided to do this.
Only those seats with colour were available, together with the 1st and 2nd row from the screen. I sat at the red seat, Luk at the dark blue seat and Ras at the green seat. Initially, I jokingly asked Luk to seat at the yellow seat, me at the red seat and Ras at the light blue seat and that would be fun LOL!
So, have you ever been to movie with bunch of friends but end up sitting scattered around? Last night was my first time. Not referring to my sexual experience, duh! Wait, I’m a virgin at heart and mind.
What about 2012? Let me see. The special effects effects are incredibly awesome. You want to see kick ass, awesome explosions? 2012 has atomic bomb like explosion, better than any explosion you get in Die Hard installments, Armageddon, The Rock, GI Joe etc. You want earthquakes? Let’s send California sinking into the sea, shall we?
Fires everywhere, tsunamis flooding India, China, Japan. Even Mount Himalaya and Everest Peak are not spared from the gigantic waves. More people get killed in this movie alone than all the end of day movies combined. Yes, I kid you not. 2012 kills gazillion people without breaking a sweat and as usual, the hero and his family will survive against all odds, on cue for a happy ending.
The storyline sucks. If you’re looking for a reasonable perspective, don’t watch the movie. It offers none. In fact, it is kinda ridiculous, I’m going to offer some senseless ’morals of the story’ and ‘conclusions’ on my own after watching the movie.
1. Money talks. It pays to be rich and connected. It helps you to get somewhere and in this movie, to get your ass saved. Heh, locally, that is how it works, too. Or if you don’t have the dough, you have to be lucky. F*cking lucky not just lucky lucky.
2. Chinese are great builders, they can do crazy things with ridiculous deadline. And they care about their families, a lot. Oh ya, never say no to your grandmother if you’re Chinese.
3. Indians are the smartest people on earth and they always speak English in a very Indian way. Now how come that Tibetan Chinese speaks good English lol
4. Russians love fast cars, they talk in a very deep voice. Any Russian can do a voice over for Vin Diesel if he is having a bad sore throat. And Russians treat women like garbage.
5. The last president of the United States of America is black. And he has a hot daughter. Why the president in the movie always has a hot daughter?
6. The person with the inside scoops, the one with conspiracy theories which later proven true is always a crackpot. And crackpot always don’t shave.
7. Hero always has dysfunctional family. Overly stressed by Hollywood films, dramas. Cliche!
8. The world consists of just G8 countries. Ha! Ha! Ha! Oh ya, and Brazil. Eh, how come China is in? Oh, refer point 2.
9. Flying a plane is an easy feat, when you’re in a desperate situation.
10. Where ever the hero goes, disastrous trails follow closely behind. Literally. But not too close, just close enough for him to get away..
11. A lot of assholes can afford to fork out 1 billion Euro.
In my unworthy opinion, 2012 is just another doomsday movie. *yawn* Now, go get your ticket and sit for 2 hours to watch the entire continents destroyed!
ps: Couldn’t help but noticed some cinema goers are really fucking scums. Sit at your seat, follow the number written on your ticket, asshole! And fucking keep your phone in silent mode. Who cares if you have the coolest ringtone in town if you are an uncivilised fucker.
Had a great weekend. Woke up at 6am in the morning on Saturday. Around 7am, went to pick up Ras and Luk for breakfast at Hole No. 9, Pulau Melayu. Hole No. 9 is famous for its Mee Jawa and chicken wings. Chicken wings tasted damn good, I had two for breakfast ehe. The Mee Jawa is quite nice, just a little sweet for my taste bud. I had better before.
The real reason for dragging my lazy ass from my comfy bed that early morning was because Ras had a photo-shoot session that morning. The theme *cough cough* suggested by the model was ‘Autumn in My Heart’ -- something along the line. The plan was to shoot at Esplanade or somewhere with lots of trees and err.. dead leaves?
Arrived at Esplanade but there was a group of people there, doing some kind of team-building activities. So we waited at Esplanade for a while for the model and her chauffeur cum photographer to come, but then decided to change the shooting location to Marina Bay.
Photo-shoot session started around 10am. I renamed (without approval from the model lah), the theme for the day was ‘Summer in My Head’ Just like any big concert, we must have opening act before the main act. Appetizer first. I hope you don’t puke after having your appetizer.
jeng jeng jeng.. are you ready?
haiiii! hoi stop laughing, i posed damn hard for this gayish effect..
*thinking to self* why my blog is down again
The ‘your trusted, reliable leader’ pose.
Happy couple shot.. (STRICTLY for illustration purpose only)
Hahahahaha! My baby! I impregnated a man! *forced laughs*
The ‘check out my hairy tummy’ pose
The ‘I’m too cool to sell containers’ pose
I had fun playing ‘model’ for the photographers to their shots and while waiting for the main act to get ready. Ehe, enough of fooling around, let’s bring on the real act! Presenting Ms. Sarah Bernetha Zehnder aka Sara Wong aka Sara Rahim (lol)
Theme: Summer in My HeadAla-ala Autumn in My Heart
“I am mentally healthy, I have no injuriesand I will not commit suicide,” - Must let all friends, family know about this, to be safe :D 2 days ago
Namawee: “I am mentally healthy, I have no injuries and I will not commit suicide,” http://bit.ly/bSVUGD <-- hahaha! cheeky fella. 2 days ago
What say U? @NajibRazak RT @timmysay: Pn. Siti Insyak shud b given d same coverage as Namawee. A TASK FORCE shd b established to investigate 2 days ago
Jack Bauer! Huarghhh!! Chuck Norris is tough, but Jack Bauer is tougher. No one crosses Jack Bauer and lives.. 2 days ago
LadyBird: by looking at a glance on the road condition (based on the picture), it is much better as compared to miri-bakong road.... on The curse of the ’signboard’.
Muddy: All sorts of vehicles can get stuck along this Miri-Lapok road that had remained in horrendous condition for the past 40 years.
