How Sabahans Are Taken for a Ride by Civil Servants and Politicians in Broad Daylight

“Some people think that the truth can be hidden with a little cover-up and decoration. But as time goes by, what is true is revealed, and what is fake fades away.”

While social media frequently rages over directly misappropriated public funds, we completely ignore a much silent, equally devastating drain on our resources: systemic infrastructural mismanagement.

 

Here is a glaring example of how poor supervision from more than a decade ago forces today's rate-payers to literally pay to treat the rain, while breaking our electricity grid in the process.

The Warning Ignored: In 2014, I wrote extensively about the Kota Kinabalu/Penampang Regional Sewage Treatment Plant (RSTP) located on Jalan Pintas (opposite Grand Millennium Plaza). By mid-2013, the facility had been handed over and was fully operated by the Public Works Department (JKR).

Between 2014 and 2017, I sent multiple emails warning Mr. Edward Lingkapo (then Chief Assistant Director of the Sewerage Branch at JKR). I warned him directly that a severe lack of supervision over pipeline construction would cost taxpayers an absolute fortune.

The Regulatory Cop-Out

During the construction of these sewerage lines, representatives from the Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) were consistently present in JKR meetings. Mr. Poon Chee Kong of DBKK openly confirmed that the maintenance of these lines falls under the shared responsibility of both DBKK and JKR.

Yet, due to a severe failure of oversight by both JKR and DBKK, substandard pipelines were approved. Today, the public is forced to shoulder the financial burden of this historical negligence.

 

The Evidence: A System Broken in Both Directions

Whether it is bone-dry or a monsoon downpour, our mismanaged underground pipe network is constantly leaking due to failed joints and cracked lines. It is a dual-threat infrastructure failure:

The Dry Season Hazard (Exfiltration):

(Photo 1: Low volume of sewage water trickling from the main pipe)

 

As seen in this photo, during dry periods when the water table drops below the pipes, the opposite problem happens: exfiltration. Raw sewage actively leaks out of the cracked pipe joints, seeping directly into our neighborhood soil and contaminating our local groundwater supply.

(Photo 2: High-water mud marks showing how high the internal floods rise during heavy downpours)

 

The Wet Season Nightmare (Infiltration) The moment a heavy monsoon downpour hits, the groundwater table violently rises above the pipes. The pressure reverses, and massive stormwater Inflow and Infiltration (I&I) occurs. Rainwater forces its way into the sewer lines, dragging down tons of road sand, silt, mud, and debris. This creates a chaotic, pressurized torrent that shoots into our localized pumping stations, drowning them up to the high-water mud marks left on the walls.

(Note: If you notice the gates to the plant are now locked, it is because JKR decided to restrict public access following my initial whistleblowing blog posts in 2014—preventing the public from capturing live photos of the rainy-season chaos inside).

The 6 Hidden Costs We Are Paying for Generations

Because our civil servants failed to supervise the underground pipe installations, Sabahans are stuck paying for these massive operational expenditures:

i.                    Paying to "Treat the Rain": Instead of treating sewage, our multi-million ringgit government facility is forced to process millions of liters of clean rainwater.

ii.                  Spiking Electricity Bills: Pumping costs for local lift stations skyrocket during heavy downpours just to keep up with the hydraulic surge of rainwater.

iii.               Starving the Bacteria: The plant relies on large aeration blowers to feed oxygen to the waste-consuming bacteria. Rainwater dilutes the sewage disrupting the delicate biological balance.

iv.                Automated Budget Bleeding: To correct this, automated systems force massive electrical blowers to run longer and harder, aggressively running up the plant's electricity bill.

v.                  The "Sandpaper" Effect on Equipment: The grit and silt washed from the roads act like sandpaper inside the facility. It causes premature failure of mechanical seals, tears up sludge dewatering belts, and erodes pump impellers—driving emergency spare parts budgets through the roof.

vi.                The Heavy Haulage Cost: Once tons of sand, silt, and road debris settle at the bottom of the pumping stations and grit chambers, it cannot just be washed away. Operators must deploy specialized vacuum tankers (super-suckers) and manual labor to shovel out the heavy sludge. This compacted grit must then be carted away by heavy trucks to specialized landfills, adding exorbitant transport, fuel, and disposal tipping fees to the taxpayers' bill.

vii.             Emergency Overtime Labor: Managing these chaotic hydraulic spikes requires manual intervention. Plant operators must be placed on emergency standby and paid overtime just to manually clear clogged trash screens.

 

The Final Straw: Why Our Lights Go Out

This brings us to why Sabahans suffer from frequent "electricity sharing" (load shedding) or power tripping during heavy rainstorms. It is a cascading failure from the ground up:

The Pumping Panic: As rainwater floods the network, underground lift stations across residential areas are forced to pump an unmanageable, exponential volume of water toward the main Penampang plant.

The Electrical Overload: Submersible pumps meant to operate intermittently are forced to run continuously at 100% capacity to prevent sewage from backing up into people's homes.

The Grid Snap: This massive, synchronized spike in electrical current (amperage) across multiple local pumping hubs overheats transformers and trips regional circuit breakers.

To protect the wider power grid from burning out entirely, SESB is forced to implement localized power cuts.

Conclusion

Our frequent rainy season blackouts are not just a "power grid" issue—they are a sewer pipe issue. It is the direct result of improper supervision by past JKR and DBKK engineers who allowed a compromised underground network to be built.

The next time you meet a local politician or a senior municipal engineer, do not just ask them where the tax money went. Ask them why we are still paying to treat the rain while sitting in the dark.