SARAWAK will submit to Putrajaya a fresh proposal for a road to ease the movement of the forces guarding the 1,000km-long border with Indonesia’s Kalimantan.

Deputy Chief Minister James Masing told The Malaysian Insight the state had proposed the project years ago to then defence minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Zahid, now Umno president, was defence minister from April 2009 to May 2013.

“Zahid said ‘yes’ to the proposal but I don’t know what happened to it.

“Maybe it got lost in the maze of bureaucracy or political whirlwind after last year’s general election,” said Masing.

The road, roughly 890km in length, would run parallel to the border – from the coastal town of Sematan in southern Sarawak to Lawas in the north.

It could cost the federal government between RM10 billion and RM12 billion for a R3 standard road.

A R3 standard road should be three-metre in width with a speed limit of 70kmph. It is categorised as a “secondary road”.

“We have to build the road for the nation and for Sarawak’s security.

“We need it to allow the border forces, who are currently based in camps well away from the border, to respond quicker to any incident along the border or to reinforce troops at the many border posts,” said Masing.

“At the moment, they can’t (guard the border effectively).”

The state has a few battalions for border security stationed in Sibu, Bintulu and Kapit.

Not only that those towns are far from the border, there are no roads directly connecting them to the border.

Unless they are on helicopters, the forces could take a day or two via river and timber roads to reach the border.

Meanwhile, the Sematan-Telok Melano section of the Pan Borneo Highway now allows access to the once isolated villages close to the border at Tanjung Datu with ease.

Masing said with the border road, camps could be built closer to critical areas.

 “We are lucky to have a very friendly government on the other side.

“But we didn’t have one in the past. We can’t wait until it happens again before we start building the road. It’s better to do it now.”

He added Putrajaya should seriously consider the proposal in view of Indonesia’s plan to shift the capital to East Kalimantan, which would see an influx of people from other parts of the country converged there. – September 8, 2019.