A picture of the ‘buffalo ambulance’ which transports Bojong Mokiling who lives in a rural part of Sabah to the nearest hospital. – The Malaysian Insider pic, February 24, 2015.
A PKR lawmaker is concerned over the lack of infrastructure and poverty faced by those living in remote areas of Sabah, after a report highlighted a villager's plight in having to use a "buffalo ambulance" to get to the nearest hospital.
PKR deputy youth chief Tan Kar Hing urged Putrajaya and the state government to look into these problems which affected the people, saying they ought to resolve them by reviewing the payment of oil royalties.
"Sabah is the second largest state and represents 10% of the population of Malaysia. But 40% of the people from there are categorised as poor and their basic infrastructure like roads, medical services and education are still unsatisfactory and far behind," Ng said in a statement today.
He was commenting on a report by news portal Daily Express, which reported the plight of Bojong Mokiling, a man in his 70s and who is partially paralysed, from Kg Niatang, Pitas, in northern Sabah.
Bojong's family had been forced to use a makeshift buffalo cart to transport the sick man to the main road, situated 1.5km from the rural village, in order to get him medical attention.
His son-in-law Albert Madin was reported as saying that getting even a small car into the village was "simply impossible" as road conditions were bad.
"It was for this reason that we had to use our ingenuity and we came up with the idea of using a buffalo to pull a crude cart made from planks and boards that we salvaged," he was quoted as saying.
Albert also noted that the village was often left out when it came to development as it only had about 50 villagers.
Tan, who is also Simpang Pulai assemblyman, said that the people of Sabah were not asking for mega-projects such as shopping malls but for simple infrastructure like proper roads.
"What happened to that patient (Bojong) is very heart breaking to Malaysians and the fact is, there could be more facing the same issues every day," he added.
He said that Sabah was one of the main contributors to the country's income but the demands of its people had not been realised since 1976.
"I urge the federal government to review the terms of oil royalty payment that the people of Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak are asking for… for the sake of their basic needs," he said.
- TMI
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