KUCHING, May 21: Democratic Action Party (DAP) Batu Kitang chairman Abdul Aziz Isa today denied asking Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) chairman Lo Khere Chiang to cancel proposed projects in Kampung Haji Baki and wondered if ‘Lo has a reading problem’.
“I find it seriously unbecoming and despicable when a seasoned politician like Lo publicly smeared my name by giving a false statement of fact,” he said in a statement today.
Lo, who is also Batu Kitang assemblyman, had last Saturday (May 18) blasted Aziz for questioning him in public why he had yet to cancel the RM1 million Haji Baki hall project and RM800,000 Haji Baki hawker centre project since it is 2019 now.
“I demand him to disclose to the public in which part of my official statement did I ask him ‘why did he not cancel the two proposed projects?” Aziz challenged Lo.
Elaborating on his statement issued on May 4, Aziz said he only advised Lo to allocate some funds, through MPP, for the building of a new hawker centre as the provision was within the local council’s jurisdiction.
“My question to Lo was very simple. As chairman for MPP, why did he not allocate some funds to build facilities for Kampung Haji Baki, like the hawker centre, using ratepayers’ money that the council collects through annual assessment rates (which was in paragraph 3),” he said.
“Firstly, I asked Lo, if it was (former Prime Minister Datuk Seri) Najib (Tun Razak) who pledged RM1 million for the building of a new multipurpose hall in 2016, why didn’t the then kleptocratic BN regime fulfil the promise?
“Secondly, since the promise was made in 2016, until the change of the federal government in May 2018, why has Lo never opened his mouth demanding Najib to expedite the two projects? There was a time gap of two years to fulfil the promises,” he said.
Aziz said Lo, as MPP chairman, should not expect the federal government to bear the cost to build the hawker centre as it came under MPP’s jurisdictions.
“Instead, he should request for financial assistance from the state government since the council was created by the state government under the Local Authorities Ordinance 1996,” he opined. — DayakDaily
