KUCHING, April 29: Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) candidate for Stampin Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian lashed out at Democratic Action Party (DAP) for not bringing any kind of development to the Batu Kawah state constituency when Christina Chiew was its assemblywoman prior to the 2016 state election.
He said when he won the seat during the 2016 state election, within a period of about a year he had managed to not only find allocations for flood mitigation projects there but also through Padawan Municipal Council (PMV) managed to reduce assessment rates.
He said prior to 2016, the annual allocation for PMC was only RM18 million. After he won the Batu Kawah seat in 2016, he became the voice representing the people of Batu Kawah and was also appointed Minister of Local Government and Housing, and PMC since then received RM45 million per year of allocation from the state.
“They (DAP) complained that I was too slow to resolve the issues of the people here. Come on lah, I’ve been here (Batu Kawah state seat) for over a year only but I have managed to carry out several projects especially the flood mitigation project.
“They (DAP) expect me to do a five-year term solutions within a year, when they themselves have had a full term but failed to do anything for the people of Batu Kawah,” Dr Sim said at a press conference at SUPP’s Batu Kawah branch this afternoon after launching his Stampin parliamentary election manifesto.
The manifesto focuses on infrastructure development for the Stampin parliament constituency, which includes affordable housing and education; boosting economic activities; flood mitigation and drainage; community development; and traffic and road improvements.
He said he had also requested Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg to propose another Light Rail Transit (LRT) line through Batu Kawah all the way to Bau to mitigate traffic congestion as well as to balance out economic activities between the areas.
During the unveiling of the LRT line last month, three lines were proposed – Kota Samarahan-Damai, Serian-Senari and the Kuching City Dispersal Line.
Dr Sim said that if the state Barisan Nasional (BN) were to win big this general election, it would be able to pursue its rights over its oil and gas resources which would boost the state’s income and expenditure.
He said with bigger expenditure, more development projects could be carried out, and in turn would boost the economy and the people’s standard of living. He promised that his efforts and results for the development of Batu Kawah would also be reflected in the parliamentary seat of Stampin.
“The National BN Manifesto already promised to get back our (Sarawak) rights. Say we get back our oil money of RM50 billion, we will have a lot of allocation for more development projects. So make sure we fight for BN and our (Sarawak) representation in Parliament,” said Dr Sim. — DayakDaily