KUCHING, April 12: Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri James Masing has called on opposition parties not to politicise the channeling of funds by the state government to each constituency to assist the poor and needy during the movement control order (MCO) period.
He opined that opposition parties should get their facts right before accusing elected representatives of taking the money.
“If you are not in a position to assist by giving the funds, the least that you can do is to identify the families in your ‘kawasan’ (constituency) who are in need of the assistance.
“Please do not play politics to help our people in their time of need.
“I hope (members of) Democractic Action Party (DAP), Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) took the trouble to assist the divisional relief committees in giving food packages to all the families.
“Please do not politicise the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government’s effort to assist our people who are in need,” he asserted in a statement.
Masing, who is Minister of Infrastructure and Port Development was responding to a news article in which Nangka assemblyman Dr Annuar Rapa’ee was accused of banking state government funds meant to assist the people for food aid into his constituency’s service centre’s bank account.
Dr Annuar had explained that initially there was a proposal for the allocation of five constituencies in Sibu namely Bukit Assek, Dudong, Nangka, Pelawan and Bawang Assan with a total allocation of RM1 million to be deposited into his constituency bank’s account.
Dr Annuar expounded that the proposal was rejected as Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg did not agree with it.
Dr Annuar who is Assistant Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research added that the state government then decided the funds be channelled to divisional disaster management committees which are led by divisional Residents.
Masing who is Baleh assemblyman added, “What Dr Annuar said is correct.
“The fund of RM200,000 given to each constituency is allocated to the divisional disaster relief committee and not to individual YB (elected representative) or the service centre’s account.
“Each of the 82 state assemblymen regardless of their political affiliation is asked to assist to provide food aid during MCO,” Masing asserted. — DayakDaily
