LAWAS, Feb 22: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan felt many Sarawak Pakatan Harapan leaders were not sincere or committed to develop the state.
He claimed that many of these leaders were not consistent in their statements, especially when it comes to defending Sarawak rights.
“In Parliament, when the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) MPs were calling for the amendment of Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution to include the word ‘in pursuant to the Malaysia Agreement 1963’ (MA63), the Pakatan Harapan MPs from Sarawak did not support it.
“In the state legislative assembly, when the Sarawak government tables a bill to fight for the state’s rights, they support. Thus, some of the Pakatan Harapan leaders were being inconsistent,” he alleged, when delivering his speech as the launching of GPS Lawas Zone here today.
Awang Tengah opined that such leaders were only interested in protecting their own position and political mileage. In such regards, he deemed these leaders as not capable and only think about their own interest.
He also believed that local politicians representing peninsula-based political parties were only tools to their leaders in Peninsular Malaysia.
“Many projects approved by the former (Barisan Nasional) federal government were cancelled by the PH federal government. Those projects are for the benefits of the people,” he said.
Due to the cancellation of some federal government’s projects in Sarawak, he added that the state government has to come up with the allocation from the state’s budget.
GPS, made up of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), were formerly partners of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government.
The four Sarawak-based parties left the BN coalition after Pakatan took over Putrajaya in GE14.
Awang Tengah took a swipe at Sarawak Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) chief Baru Bian, who is also Works Minister, as having the power to influence leadership in the federal government to ensure projects in Sarawak would be continued.
He claimed that Baru did not make the construction of Lawas Hospital, a people centric project, a priority after assuming the role as Works Minister.
He alleged that funds were available to build the Lawas Hospital and had reached the approval stage under the previous BN government when Petra Jaya MP Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof was Minister of Works.
Lawas MP Datuk Henry Sum Agong claimed the federal government has proposed to build a hospital in Lawas but the construction work has been halted.
He said tender for Lawas Hospital will be called this year and it is expected to take another 44 months to be completed.
He appealed to the state government for some infrastructure projects such as roads access to villages throughout Lawas. — DayakDaily
