Labuan Bridge
Today, a lady came to my house doing survery regarding Labuan to Mempakul bridge. The bridge that have been anticipated for a very long time. It is like labuan's dream came true if they built that bridge.
Why do they need to take respond from every person in labuan regarding that bridge. They did gave rational answer to my question, they want to know whether people of labuan really want that bridge. hell yeah they do.
Who did not want a bridge from Labuan to the mainland? Who one to be isolated here in this island with the only way out is by those dangerous motorbot, or that fan-dropped ferry to menumbok ( i heard from my father that only big ferry to menumbok lost one of his engine fan a few days ago making it like a handicap. Driving through the sea by only one fan, so slow), or by once a day flight to Kota Kinabalu. I am sure not many labuan choose to use airplanes. One flight? And even i checked in airasia a few weeks ago, there is no flight listed. Why? Maybe error in their server or maybe there is really no flight to KK. haha.
So who did not want a bridge from Labuan to Sabah? anyone? yes... there are person who did not want it. I am quite shock about this answer given by that lady who did survey in my house. she said that there is some people who opposed that bridge.
Let me tell you that i, too, opposed to that bridge earlier ( a few years ago) when it was announced by Tun Abdulah. However, with serious discussion, opinion, thinking, finally i change my seat. I agree with it because of the benefit.
Maybe person who opposed never felt the slowness of that ferry everytime ( hundred times) i used it to go to labuan or go back to Kota Kinabalu. Maybe they did not know how old is that ferry. it is a ferry that was bought from Korea, and if you ever ride that old ferry you will know that Korea must throw that ferry in their trash. To old. And we labuan people use it as our main transportation to sabah? How old are we?
And maybe those people did not know how stuffy is that 3 hours journey to Kota kinalu by express ferry? How many bacteria and virus you inhale during that journey. stuff in that cabin with no view to outside enviroment ( for second class), it was terrible. I never took that express anymore after having a bad experience inhaling someone's puke odor for 3 hours in that ferry!!
Maybe they did not see the hazard of riding speed boat to menumbok? How many times people complain about them, the safety precaution, speed limit and everything. Just ignore it by them. Those television or authority from semenanjung will not reach labuan that fast to exposed them.. And the authorities in labuan.....
Those bridge will burst the economy of this island. All the product from this island can be brought to the mainland and all the supply we need from the mainland can reach labuan when that bridge is built. Do you know how big a cabbage from kundasang when it reaches labuan? 1/4 of the orginal size. Why? Because it took a long time to reach labuan? Why long time? because the only method to transport by car or lorry is through one old ferry.
I believe those who opposed are people who are related with the industries of monopoly-ing labuan people to pad rm54 for ferry or rm15 for the speed boat. I guess every sea method of getting to the mainland except the 3 hours ferry to Kota Kinabalu will be bankrupt after this.
So maybe people would think about them later. How they would survive after the bridge is built. However, for me, if you can bring benefit to millions, and loss to hundred, why don't we choose millions. Darwin's theory is real. haha.
If those bridge isn't built because of the opposing people, i will curse labuan for 7 generations.
Why don't Langkawi has a bridge?
The answer is within langkawi itself. You can live in langkawi without getting to the mainland.
Try and live in Labuan without ever going to the mainland... labuan is nothing except a beautiful island to relax and have your simple life. But if you stay long enough, somehow, you need one or two days to become complicated and rock you world a bit. haha.
Maybe i am being bias since i spend more of time in Kota Kinabal nowadays. but when i miss labuan, i really want to go back as soon as possible. And it seem that as soon as possible is impossible without that bridge. ( ticket from Menumbok to Labuan already sold out). Where should my car go?
mmg teda flight air asia utk labuan-kk. tiket MAS pula terlalu mahal. bagus aku terus p kl dgn harga tiket tu.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I think the bridge would be just a waste of taxpayer money and resources. The cost approximation is already at around RM1 billion right now. Who knows just how much higher it would become in the future.
ReplyDeleteIf the authorities are sincere about improving Labuan, then why not just start with re-hauling the ferry conditions (it's truly a NIGHTMARE)? Why not increase the number of flights and reduce the air fare of KK-LBN instead?
To be more honest, hehe, it's a long term investment. yes for managing this acute problem, goverment can buy 3-4 ferry that cost millions and millions more to service it for the next 10 years. or increase the flight which is now currently not a big way to gain money. Flight business is going down, no customer, then waste of money.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, there are still no bridges crossing sea around sabah. I guess politically, it also beneficial.
Other thing is, among the 3 federal territories in Malaysia, Labuan is the poorest one. Haha. why not gave something to it. maybe, a bridge?
Flight business is going down, no customer, then waste of money.
ReplyDeleteWell I happen to think it's the other way round. Air travel is never going to be out of business, but if the rates are just so unreasonable, of course people would opt for other modes of transportation -- the authorities should be the ones to lower the rates first.
Labuan's "poor" state is not due to having no money pumped in from the government, but rather a matter of management. Case in point, the recently completed 10 million lawn bowling center. That's what I meant by priorities, untuk apa lawn bowling center tu? It's not going to benefit the people of Labuan as a whole, just a handful of people. Tengok jalan raya di Labuan tu pun dah cukup, all the potholes and cracks. The abandoned buldings -- apa jadi dengan Hotel Labuan tu, is it still standing there? Poorly managed hotels and accomodations. Lack of advertisements and information about Labuan itself. Financial Park yang masih suram dan malap even after more than ten years already.
They should take care of these immediate problems first and improve the management conditions instead of wasting money and resources on yet another project which doesn't even have any kind of solid and detailed guarantee about how it's going to benefit the people of Labuan.
Yes they should look into this matter. But Labuan bridge was requested almost 15 years ago by people in Labuan. In fact, don't be mistaken that this bridge was a brand new idea.
ReplyDeleteI remember around 14-15 years ago, during Mahathir period, they were already proposals on this matter.
It has been so long, but they built other things that does not benefits the people. So, they should make this straight. Promise to build this bridge should be fulfilled.
I do agree on those dismanagement. It is really poor managed.
Where does the money go? I begin to doubt this years ago, however, they were voices in parliament i guess last year regarding labuan did not have enough financial support from the federal goverment even though it is federal territories.
We really want that bridge.