KUCHING, Feb 18: The High Court’s finding of prima facie case on the corruption charges against Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor was another victorious result brought about by the 2018 General Elections (GE14) where the Barisan Nasional (BN) was toppled by the Pakatan Harapan (PH).
Highlighting this, Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen pointed out that since the change of government in 2018, there have been many prosecutions against the once powerful and VVIPs on counts of corruption.
“Though most of us would like to see swift justice be carried out and those corrupt figures put behind bars immediately, but the administration of justice demands that the perpetrators be also given the right to fair trial in Courts of law.
“Since the 2018 change of government, we have witnessed, the conviction of (Datuk Seri) Najib Razak (ex-Prime Minister), the conviction of (Tan Sri Mohd) Isa Abdul Samad (ex-Menteri Besar of Negeri Seremban), the trial of (Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad) Zahid Hamidi (ex-Deputy Prime Minister). And today we witness the Court’s finding of prima facie case against the corruption charges against Rosmah (wife to the ex-Prime Minister).
“All these powerful personalities would not have been charged had there been no change of government in 2018 brought about by the GE,” he said in a statement today.
Therefore, contrary to the misperception that there was no point voting, Chong strongly believes that the votes of the rakyat do count.
Though the PH could not achieve 100 per cent of the reforms promised in the GE14 and that the life of the PH government was shortened by the treacherous act of the ‘Sheraton Move’ in February 2020, he emphasised the country had seen positive transformations which will never happened had there been no change of government back in 2018.
The transformations include prosecution of the all powerful Umno warlords and VVIPs of the BN times, fall of the UMNO’s political hegemony, and a more independent Parliament with Opposition heading the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and many other Select Committees overseeing the administration of the Executives.
Other notable transformations according to Chong were more transparency and accountability in government administration under the PH’s time which was now reversed by the present PN government, more latitude in the freedom of speech and media reporting under the PH’s time which is now reversed by the present PN government, fairer allocation of fund for all vernacular schools under the PH’s time which was also now reversed by the present government.
Throughout this period, he observed that the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) has always played the role against the people’s wishes.
“In the past, the GPS has helped to consolidate the power of UMNO. During PH’s time, the GPS was dead set against the reforms proposed by the PH government.
“The GPS has the instrumental number during the Sheraton Move in bringing down the PH Government.
“Now, the GPS is part of the PN government, together with Bersatu, UMNO and PAS, in reversing the reforms put in place by the PH government,” he claimed.
As the saying “better the devil that you know” goes, Chong said that it seemed that the GPS was more comfortable with the old corrupt system of the BN, now found in the present PN government, with no accountability and transparency, especially now that Parliament sitting has been suspended.
“With the GPS strongly backing the PN government, the country Malaysia as a whole, lost out. Can Sarawak gain from this? The answer is a clear ‘No’.
“One clear evidence is that even when Sarawak has a Deputy Minister of Health (Datuk Aaron Ago Dagang) from the central region, notwithstanding the outbreak of Covid-19 cases in the central region for a few weeks, the Sibu General Hospital is still severely short-handed, under-funded and no additional testing machines to tackle the situation.
“And worst of all, the Deputy Minister of Health is nowhere to be found in Sibu dealing with the situation,” he said.
Chong reiterated his belief in the democratic voting system and that every citizen’s votes count.
“But if the voters in Sarawak continue to invest in the GPS which is the same as BN Sarawak, then our woes of the past 57 years will continue into the future for our children,” he added. — DayakDaily
