Guess who are the top brass behind Lahad Datu Energy Sdn Bhd, the company which is still stubbornly persisting to build the highly unpopular coal power plant in Sandakan — which has already been rejected on health and safety grounds in Lahad Datu?

Based on a company search done recently, as of Feb 4 2009, the shareholders and directors of Lahad Datu Energy Sdn Bhd are one other than the top officials of Tenaga Nasional Berhad, the parent company of Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd.

So we wonder whether this explains why the TNB top management seem to be so stubborn and adamant in its plans to build this coal power plant in Sandakan if not Lahad Datu despite the fierce objections from over 30,000 residents of Sandakan.

And despite the ample avenues to explore other alternative options to increase the supply of electricity to the East Coast of Sabah.

And we suppose TNB can no longer completely distance themselves from this coal power plant project or to call it an ‘Independent’ Power Plant in any way.

Would it be too farfetched to say that Tenaga Nasional Berhad equals Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd equals Lahad Datu Energy Sdn Bhd all of whom are lovers of coal and who are too rich and powerful and deaf to the voices of the Sandakan people?

The managing director of Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd, Ir. Baharin bin Din says:

‘Our responsibility is to serve more than 300,000 customers throughout the state and we will continuously improve our services to meet your needs and expectations. We aim to earn your trust - through integrity in conduct and excellence in performance to deliver reliable electricity to your homes and premises.

‘In order to convey our desire and commitment to you, we will uphold our tagline - SESB Working Harder For Better Power. We will continue our endless effort to serve our valued customers because WE CARE!’

(By the way, note that capital letters ‘WE CARE’ and the exclamation mark ‘!’ at the end there are original and not added/edited by me. Hmm…sounds like SESB is really passionate about caring for Sabahans!

Well, it’s time for you to prove that you ‘care’ by listening to over 30,000 of your customers residing in Sandakan. And it’s time for you to start ‘Working harder For Better Power’ by looking for other cleaner and healthy alternatives such as hydropower from Bakun Dam or natural gas and call off the coal power plant proposal.

Forcing the coal power plant down our throats is not called ‘working harder’, and it’s definitely not ‘caring’. To insist that Sabahans must accept coal looks more like you are ‘working harder’ for and ‘caring’ about your own corporate profits only.

You have recently taken over the Bakun Dam project in Sarawak, which is expected to be ready in October 2011. Furthermore, there will be so much hydro power to be generated in Bakun, Sarawak, that there are plans to construct 676 kilometres of submarine cables across the South China Sea to transmit the excess power all the way to Peninsular Malaysia.

I’m sure you know that the distance between Miri, Sarawak, to Sandakan, Sabah is only 485 km and between Sibu, Sarawak to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, it is only 624 km, far less than the length of your submarine cable across the South China Sea.

So, all you need to do if you really care about Sabah’s environment and the health of her people is to construct a land grid to connect Bakun and Sabah — it is shorter than 676 km and no need to go under-sea.

Surely, it will also cost you much less than a submarine cable across the South China Sea.

Besides, there is also plan to sell the electricity power produced at Bakun to Brunei and Kalimantan in indonesia. Why not sell this clean and healthy energy to Sabahans (which is part of Malaysia, by the way).

What is going on?

Tenaga Nasional Berhad/Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd/Lahad Datu Energy Sdn Dhd, talk is cheap. Stop emitting hot air and start ‘working harder’ to find intelligent and clean solutions instead of lazy shortcuts such as coal. Prove that you really ‘care’.