Down-Grading Tawau

The previous Tawau Municipal Council (Majlis Perbandaran Tawau - MPT) president, Datuk Hamzah Hj Amir, announced before his transfer that Tawau would be made a city in year 2005. No one believed him then as he could only talk without any actions.

The present President, Datuk Hj Harith M Yahya, also talked about it. He has done a little more then the previous president. However, no one believes him too.

Datuk Harith seemed promising when he first took over as the council president in 2002. He fired his staff for poor working attitudes and complained about other government departments for not doing their jobs. He got the people wake up for a while waiting for more good news. Alas, it was not for long.

Now, like the other previous presidents, Datuk Harith too shows his true colour. First, he acts like real VIP by arriving late for function even when he is not the guest of honour (I do not meant guest of honour could arrive late). He insisted he knows about protocol since he was once in the state palace. But he got it all wrong.

MPT under his leadership now approved the fixing of street lights for the 30KM road from Tawau to Airport. Lamp posts were closely erected, probably advised by his wise engineers. While lighting up the strecth of road which is always deserted after 8.30pm, the housing areas are left in darkness. Burnt bulbs took years to be replaced.

Not enough for that, MPT now fixed up ancient street lights at areas where there are no activities at night. The front part of MPT especially is decorated with these ancient street lights but no one use thise area at night. The street lights are dim and serve no purpose.

Traffic congestion in Tawau is getting from bad to worse. The already narrow roads in town areas are made even narrower. According the wise engineers of MPT, it is to avoid traffic congestion since they said when the road is narrow, no vehicle could stop. Now, Tawau town is flooded with machine turtles due to the road-narrowing process. One just wonders where did these engineers of MPT graduate from.

Sabindo which was once the proud spot of Tawau is now the breeding ground for diseases, rats and flies. Clogged drains are left to unsolved after repeated complaints. The president claims to visit every corner of the town but he misses just too many places. The town councillors too are sleeping lots.

The list could go on and on. Instead of looking forward for a better life (not dare thinking of the city status), MPT is down-grading Tawau. The council must have lost their forward gear that's why they keep going backward.

Help Tawau, somebody! We need fresh blood in MPT!