KUCHING, Nov 14: Chief political secretary to the Sarawak Premier, Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman, alleges that Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen is either very forgetful or pretends to forget that Pakatan Harapan (PH) cancelled projects in Sarawak shortly after assuming federal power.
Fazzrudin’s statement came in response to Chong’s statement challenging Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) leaders to name federal-funded projects that the PH federal government had cancelled.
“It is disappointing and saddening to see that DAP and PH are resorting to denial and washing their hands of their sins to the people of Sarawak when it comes to fishing for their votes in the 15th General Election (GE15).
“Chong is either very forgetful or pretends to forget that PH did cancel projects in Sarawak shortly after taking power.
“The fact of the matter is that the projects were cancelled in Sarawak and a number of them were continued by the State government,” he said.
Fazzruddin, who is also the Tupong assemblyman, asserted that Chong admitted PH cancelled the projects in the last four years and tried to spin it by labelling the desperately needed infrastructure projects as “hot air projects” in 2018.
“This was after he failed to fulfil his own promise of getting these projects continued, saying that he will bring it up personally to his party boss, then DAP secretary-general and finance minister Lim Guan Eng, to get these projects continued.
“We can only speculate that his demands were shot down by his political masters, thus he had to toe the party line and follow orders,” he added.
Fazzruddin also said that in 2019, Chong not only once again admitted that the projects were cancelled, but also insulted the people of Sarawak by telling them not to be a ‘crybaby’ over the cancelled projects.
He pointed out that Chong’s excuse then was that the cut in the budget for several projects was necessary to save the country from bankruptcy.
“I ask Chong, does he now admit that these projects were cancelled? Was it not him who told the people of Sarawak to not be a ‘crybaby’ over the cancelled projects?
“The Sarawak DAP chairman might be suffering from partial amnesia and unable to differentiate between fact and fiction.
“As far as the people of Sarawak are concerned, we do not forgive nor forget DAP and PH over their harsh treatment of Sarawak, despite their denial,” Fazzruddin added. — DayakDaily