- Come Sarawak - Come

Posted: 08 Oct 2014 07:35 PM PDT

How Taib Family Built Huge Housing Wealth In The Name Of Kuching's Poor

This post is also available in: Iban, Malay

1/2 million ringgit price tags on CMS built homes in Bandar Samariang

The Taib family company CMS proudly boasts of its "vast land bank" in its annual reports and has started selling off chunks for tens of millions in Kuching.

Commercial centres and grand housing estates are also being developed in two key areas, Bandar Samariang, where CMS has 5,200 acres, valued around half a billion ringgit, and of course on the Kuching Isthmus, where land is even more expensive.

But, how did CMS acquire all this property and who has benefitted?

Sarawak Report has acquired shocking information about the way Taib and his family members have profited from this land, which was forcibly taken (official term is 'alienated') from local people and state ownership.

We did it to help the poor

The story that the Chief Minister told from the start was that this was land that difficult and expensive to develop, but that his family company was kindly determined to provide housing for poor people.

Back in 2001, he even made out that CMS was doing this supposed favour in Bandar Samariang entirely "for the people's benefit" for "not much profit", because other developers didn't want to get involved in such a loss-making venture!

Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud denied yesterday that the development projects implemented in the state had benefited him personally as alleged by some quarters. Stressing that the projects were for the people's benefit, he urged them to think rationally all allegations of nepotism and cronyism which were levelled at him before making any conclusion….he cited as an example the low-cost housing project in Rampangi, Semariang of which he was accused of benefiting personally. Taib.. said the project did not bring much profit to the developer Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd due to the peat soil condition. Not many companies wanted to invest in the project because of the high cost involved to prepare the site for the project, he said. But in the interest of the people, the project had to be carried out to provide housing to the low income group, he said. "We do not want them to remain without houses and live far away from the city. That's why we continued with the project," he said.[Bernama Sunday, April 08, 2001]

Such a kind old fellow!

Chief Executive and key shareholder at the time, Taib brother Onn Mahmud

Interestingly no mention has ever been made again of these poor soil conditions by CMS. This is probably, not least, because in every other country in the world, developing tropical peat soil has been banned, because of the severe environmental consequences.

To gain a sense of the value of this land handed to CMS in the guise of helping the poor, consider the recent news that the company has decided to sell on a parcel of 500 acres for over RM45million to Sentoria Group to build a theme park.

Suddenly, another developer has been found willing not only to take on the job of developing the land, but to pay big money for the plot.

However, this time of course the money has gone to CMS, not the government or the people from whom the area was 'alienated'.

At the time CMS got this land for free it was largely owned and run by Taib's brother Onn Mahmud, who shortly after passed on his shares to Taib's wife, with the remainder being largely in the hands of the Chief Minister's four children.

No nepotism at all then!

Sucking money out of pensions too

Robert Geneid, the Head of CMS Property Development and husband of Taib's sister Raziah Mahmud.

But, of course, the Taibs didn't really want to invest their own money in this mission to assist the poor with 'quality low cost housing'.

Far better to use their influence to encourage the government controlled Employee Provident Fund (EPF) to put in the money instead.

After all, this fat milk cow has been used to pour vast sums of money into endless pet projects to benefit BN politicians, meaning public employees can look forward to far lower pensions, despite being forced to pay a quarter of their salaries into the obligatory savings fund controlled by the government.

EPF therefore was dragged into a joint venture with CMS and the investment in the "low cost housing" in Bandar Samariang began.

But, in fact, low cost housing was only ever planned to form a small part of the project from the very start. The original terms of agreement, as explained in CMS's own annual reports, made clear just 1/3 of the area was to be housing for the less well-off.

Housing for the poor?

The rest of the huge site was to be developed as an ambitious commercial enterprise.

CMS's 1997 Annual Report was certainly not bashful about the profit-driven nature of CMS's latest housing project or the ambitions of its new Property Development Division, headed by the new husband of Taib's sister Raziah, the Lebanese Australian, Robert Geneid.

It also reveals that, thanks to Taib's ability to pull the strings, that the State Housing & Development Commission had already been tasked with buying whatever 'quality low cost housing' CMS Property produced on the site, ensuring a guaranteed profit.

1997 Annual Report

Property Development

"This is a new growth area for the Group, and CMS Properties Sdn Bhd has been set up to develop and manage the Group's vast land bank, with the long-term objective of becoming Sarawak's principal property developer and a major player throughout Malaysia and the ASEAN region. The Group's strategy is based on using the natural synergy between the infrastructure, finance and property divisions….

Bandar Baru Samariang is a joint venture with the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and will be the largest low-cost housing project ever undertaken in Sarawak, and the first housing development project undertaken by the Group.

The 13,500 low cost houses (approximately 36 percent of the project) will be sold to the Housing & Development Commission……The remaining 64 percent of the project will comprise medium-cost homes, commercial centres and ancillary buildings, providing a total of 42,200 housing units on the vast 5,200 acre site just 15 km from Kuching. Phase 1 of the township is currently being implemented, to provide over 4,000 units of low-cost housing, as well as hundreds of other residential and commercial properties."[Ann Rpt 1997]

So, in fact, a mere 4,000 units of the token low cost housing have been included in the first phase of the project, all promoted in the beginning in a blaze of positive publicity, before CMS moved speedily to the much more lucrative "medium cost" housing, where units are currently being sold for the very fancy prices of anything up to half a million ringgit!

Bandar Samariang Phase I Plan

Phase 1 – including 4,000 low cost housing units guaranteed to be purchased by the Housing Committee

Of course, the fact that the state has ploughed in major infrastructure, in terms of roads and amenities into the area, has made the development potential of this project ever more lucrative. Yet, the Chief Minister is still justifying his handing of it all to his family in the name of charity for Kuching's poor!

Presiding over his family's vast profitable land venture.

However, this mother of all land grabs from the Sarawak people is just the start of the story of how the Taib family set about enriching themselves from this project.

In 'Phase 2′ of our investigation we will be looking at how individual members of the Taib inner family circle, set about using the massive housing project to develop profitable businesses for themselves, with disastrous consequences for the very poor people in whose name the Bandar Samariang land grab was executed.

"The new township boasts a myriad of vibrant features such as improved road connectivity between central and South Kuching" Borneo Post

Menyambut Hari Raya Aidiladha <b>di Kuching</b> Sarawak - TaM@n D'ziKr

Posted: 09 Oct 2014 12:56 AM PDT

Nak dijadikan cerita, pada Hari Raya Aidiladha yang lalu Cik Fazz And The Gang telah beraya di perantauan. Nak tahu kami beraya di mana? Kami telah beraya di bandaraya Kuching, Sarawak. Nasib baik family tak marah sebab beraya di tempat orang dan tak balik kampung.

Sebenarnya, masa kami beli tiket ini, kami tak tengok pun calendar. So bila dah beli dan dah nak berangkat baru perasan yang tarikh kami nak pergi tu jatuh pada Hari Raya Haji. Ini semua salah Airasia la, siapa suruh buat promosi time raya! Tak pasal-pasal Airasia yang kena ye Hahaha

Baiklah, Cik Fazz akan terangkan serba sedikit mengenai trip kami pada kami ini. Tiket yang dibeli berharga RM55 dan kami telah menambah luggage pada saat akhir dengan harga RM25 seorang. Tiket dibeli daripada syarikat penerbangan tambang murah iaitu Airasia pada waktu promosi berlangsung. Manakala hotel pula kami menggunakan khidmat Tune Hotel dan harga yang perlu dibayar adalah RM68 seorang. Hotel macam biasa kami shared 3 orang sekatil. Almaklumla, budget kena bagus.

Sepanjang berada di Kuching ni, kami menjadi tour guide untuk diri sendiri dan ada juga menggunakan khidmat bus shuttle. Kami tak amik service kereta sewa kat sana kerana rasa macam mahal. Tapi kami hanya menggunakan perkhidmatan bus shuttle tu untuk pergi ke perkampungan budaya. Selain daripada itu, kami hanya menggunakan kedua belah kaki kami untuk berjalan-jalan di kuching.

Cik Fazz tak tahu nak mula daripada mana, tapi yang kami tahu kami sangat seronok berada di kuching ini dan terasa seperti tak mahu pulang semula ke semenanjung. Warga kuching di sini pula sangat-sangat ramah dan baik hati. Suansa pula yang damai dan tenang. Seperti menggamit kami untuk tinggal lebih lama di sini. Tapi apakan daya, masih ada kerja yang menuntut kami untuk pulang dengan segera.

Sepanjang kami berada di sini, kami telah membuat lawatan ke beberapa tempat wajib yang berada di dalam listing kami. Antaranya adalah perkampungan budayayang mempunyai 7 buah rumah yang wajib dikunjungi dan memenuhkan buku passport dengan cop dari setiap rumah. Pergi ke kedai kek lapis yang popular untuk makan tester kek lapis yang sedap-sedap seperti kedai Kek Lapis Dayang Salhah dan kedai Kek Lapis Mira. Pergi ke muzium kucing yang tak sempat nak masuk dan hanya bergambar dekat pintu masuk je sebab kebetulan masa kami datang tu mereka buka half day saja. Kami sempat juga ke Pasar Satok dan Kubah Ria untuk membeli ikan masin terubuk.

Bergambar di Pantai Damai yang hanya bersebelahan dengan Perkampungan Budaya. Berjalan-jalan di sepanjang Waterfront pada waktu malam dan shopping tikar rotan Sarawak dan kain batik Sarawak di Main Bazaar. Serta makan dekat Top Spot iaitu kedai makan yang popular di Kuching. Naik boat tradisional pusing sungai Sarawak selama 1 jam serta berulang-alik menaiki boat ke seberang untuk makan dan shopping kek lapis Sarawak. Serta solat sunat raya di surau sebelah. Hanya Orang Utan Semenggoh dan Jong Crododile je yang kami tak dapat pergi kerana jauh dan tiada berkesempatan kerana kekangan masa.

Bagi sesiapa yang macam Cik Fazz, tak nak amik kereta sewa, anda-anda semua boleh mendapatkan bus shuttle di checkpoint-checkpoint yang mereka telah tandakan untuk menunggu bus. Pada yang ambil hotel area Waterfront, Cik Fazz nasihatkan supaya pergi ke Grand Margherita Hotel Kuching. Kerana di sana kita boleh mendapatkan bus shuttle yang paling terdekat. Kami selalu ambil bus shuttle dekat sana atau pun jika kami ingin bertanyakan arah, kerana pekerja di hotel itu sangat ramah dan mereka tahu nak pergi ke mana-mana macam mana. Kadang-kala mereka sendiri akan berikan kita nasihat perlu pergi mana, makan kat mana, shopping dekat mana. Tip top lah layanan mereka walaupun kita bukan stay dekat hotel mereka.

Cik Fazz tak mahu berceloteh panjang-panjang, seperti biasa hanya gambar-gambar yang menyampaikan rasa tersirat dan tersurat sepanjang kami berada di bandaraya kuching selama 4 hari 3 malam.

**Di sini juga, Cik Fazz beri anggaran budget semasa berada di Kuching selama 4 hari 3 malam. Jikalau memang budget untuk lawatan semata-mata, budget dalam RM500 sudah mencukupi. Tetapi jika anda ingin bershopping sekali, anda perlu bawa extra money untuk support perbelanjaan anda di sana.

Teksi dari airport ke waterfront = RM26 sehala

Perkampungan Budaya (tiket + bus shuttle) = RM84

Boat tradisional = RM19 sejam

Muzium kucing = Entrance free / camera/hp je yang mereka charges

Boat tambang untuk ke seberang = RM0.50 sehala / 8.00pm ke atas RM1.00 / Cuti Am RM1.00