KUCHING, May 11: Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen says he is “perplexed” by what he termed to be an attack by Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) president Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh against DAP instead of focusing his criticism on Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
Highlighting this, Chong said there is no need for Wong to attack DAP even if he disagreed with DAP’s views that the overall national political landscape dictates that a national party has the advantage over any local-based party which is confined only to a state.
“Under the current PN/BN/GPS government, most businesses and people are suffering. Ringgit is now at its lowest ever value against the Singapore dollar, rate of inflation is triple that of PH’s time and costs of living have increased tremendously, many construction works are stalled because of escalating costs of raw material.
“Administratively, the country’s Corruption Perception Index has dropped from the 51st position in 2019 (under the PH government) to the 62nd position in 2021. The country is in serious trust deficit and is made worse with the recent MACC (Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission) attack on the judiciary and Security Commission scandal,” he argued in a statement today.
Chong, who is also Padungan assemblyman, observed that the current Perikatan Nasional (PN), Barisan Nasional (BN) and GPS government has no solution to these economic problems and provides no direction for the country.
“Therefore, the issue concerning the people is not whether a party is a local-party or otherwise, but which party or coalition has the holistic and national plan to reset our country and get us out of the current doldrums,” he added.
The impending 15th General Election (GE15), the Stampin MP emphasised, is an opportunity for the whole country, including Sarawak to rectify and reset.
“It will be a choice between continuing with the current corrupt and incompetent alliance government on the one hand or voting for a change and at least some hope for the difference,” he said.
Therefore, Chong continued, that it is pertinent that the Opposition parties in Sarawak should stop singing the same tune as the GPS in advocating the parochial local-party doctrine and fanning the regionalism sentiment to cloud the real issue facing the people.
“To fight the PN/BN/GPS government in the coming general elections, it should be on issues of national economic policies, how businesses are to recover and how jobs are created and saved,” he said. — DayakDaily
