KUCHING, Dec 10: Democratic Action Party (DAP) candidate for Padungan Chong Chieng Jen claims that Batu Kawah incumbent Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, in his five years as its assemblyman, has failed to address five major problems faced by his constituents.
In a statement issued today, he said the first problem is the increasing cost of living suffered by the people since the fall of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government in February 2020.
“The inflation rate has escalated from one per cent during PH’s rule to three per cent under the present government. In other words, the rate of increase in goods prices is now triple that during the PH’s time.
“The second problem is the long-standing traffic jam along Jalan Batu Kawah, despite Dr Sim’s promise in his 2016 manifesto to resolve the problem if elected.”
The third issue Chong highlighted is flood problems in Batu Kawah.
“Flood problems in Batu Kawah remain despite Dr Sim’s claim of RM223 million allocation for drainage system upgrade.”
“Another problem that has not been addressed is slow Internet connectivity, making it impossible for students to study from home.
“Lastly, poor business with no effective measures by the government to stimulate the economy and help businesses.”
Chong, who is also Sarawak DAP chairman, said that the items cited by Dr Sim in his ‘report card’ are projects aimed at image-building.
“Dr Sim is the Minister for Local Government and Housing. Yet not a single government flat or low or medium-cost housing estate was built in the Batu Kawah area in the whole of his five-year term. All he could do was spend RM3 million to repair dilapidated houses and RM562,000 for maintenance of RPR Tondong flats.
“People are forced to buy houses built by private developers, which are now becoming non-affordable for medium and low wage earners,” said Chong.
Chong also noted the RM34 million allocation for road maintenance and upgrade in Dr Sim’s report card.
“While the residents of Batu Kawah suffer heavy traffic jam problems, is that the best that he can do? Road upgrading and maintenance is the job of the council, not a minister. His job is that of town planning,” he said.
Chong, who is the Kota Sentosa incumbent, said that for his constituency in the last five years, one flyover was completed, and two more are about to be completed along Jalan Penrissen.
“Though traffic jam is a huge problem along that road, at least the commuters can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“Finally, on his claim of RM330 million in allocation for Batu Kawah from 2016 to 2021, it may seem big to a layperson. But suppose one were to take into consideration the State Budget. In that case, it is a below-average allocation for Batu Kawah,” he said.
Chong also listed the State government’s expenditures from 2016 to 2021, which are RM5.563 billion (2016), RM5.705 billion (2017), RM5.781 billion (2018), RM10.39 billion (2019), RM10.408 billion (2020), and RM9.832 billion (2021).
“The total expenditure allocation by the State Government from 2016 to 2021 is RM47.679 billion. Deducting 10 per cent of this allocation for payment of civil servants’ emolument, the remaining expenditure allocation is about RM42.9 billion.
“Divide this figure for 82 constituencies; every constituency would be getting RM523 million. Yet, despite Dr Sim’s claims about being able to fight for more allocation, his report card only shows that he got RM330 million for Batu Kawah, which is RM193 million under par.” — DayakDaily
