
What makes me and also members of Heritage Sabah hopping mad is that he is adamant about proceeding with this project and went so far as to describe that the clock tower had little historical value! Heritage Sabah spokesperson Richard Nelson Sokial said based on LPPB’s website, its main role is to improve the living conditions of Sabahans in rural and suburbs by constructing low-cost homes (The Star, November 29, 2010, p N24). Being endowed with very low IQ, he may have misinterpreted LPPB’s mission – and in his own dimwit way, he may be looking at improving the living conditions of his 400-strong staff, rather than the have-nots in the state. I am also assuming that he was badly misunderstood when he was quoted to have said, “We need an office to better facilitate our activities”. I am sure he already has an office – but what he is really looking for is an office that he can call “his own” – hence his intention to build the LPPB office using its own funds (ibid). And of course, that is baloney. Those funds belong to taxpayers, not to LPPB! Believe me when I say he’s not talking about any office but one that most likely represents his bloated ego! Just in case, you are fooled into believing that the historical value of the Clock Tower is over-stated – DON’T because it is managed by the Sabah Museum under its Antiquity and History section. So, it’s really historical! Moreover, this all-wood and no-nails Clock Tower has the distinction of being the oldest standing structure in the whole of Sabah that survived the destruction of Jesselton town – it has been re-named Kota Kinabalu – during World War II. And till today, it still serves to keep the city’s time.
So Sabahans should rally their objections and stop this project!
In the UK, whether it is in London, Leeds, Birmingham, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol or elsewhere, students are still marching and demonstrating against tuition fee hikes and university budget cuts – but this time adopting cat-and-mouse tactics to circumvent police "kettling" tactics. Protestors appeared to be trying to avoid being caught in police lines, after thousands were held in a "kettle" last week. And don’t expect the protests to end anytime soon!