KUCHING, Aug 26: Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) believes that the lax response of the federal government in school repair issue shows its lack of sincerity and willingness to deal with the issue.
Not only that there has been a lack of sincerity, PDP president Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing further alleged that Pakatan Harapan (PH) was only interested in the issue to gain political mileage.
“This lax response to the agreement shows no sincerity and willingness to deal with the situation by the federal government.
“But their leaders continue to issue statements to make excuses and blame it on anyone else but themselves.
“Perhaps, the repair of schools has never been on the Pakatan Harapan government’s agenda but a vehicle for them to gain political mileage.
“It is doubtful that the PH government can be relied on to handle more complex financial matters when carrying out urgent repairs on schools seems to be beyond their capabilities,” said Tiong.
Tiong who is Bintulu MP said the task of repairing dilapidated schools has been delayed for nearly two years, since PH took office.
“There has been no progress whatsoever. There has been too much politicking on the school repair issue.
“On behalf of GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak), I absolutely agree with the Sarawak Chief Minister (Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg) that the federal government has not only been an unreliable partner, it is also irresponsible when it puts politics above the future of our children and the priority to solve their hardship,” said Tiong in a press statement to rebut Bandar Kuching MP Kelvin Yii.
To Tiong, Dr Yii’s statement displayed “the worse ignorance of the issue related to urgently repair schools in Sarawak”.
“His defence of the federal government’s lax attitude to immediately repair the dilapidated schools in the state is tantamount to ruining the future of thousands of affected students,” said Tiong who further alleged that Dr Yii was trying to take advantage of the situation to gain political mileage.
Tiong also pointed out that the federal government has been prone to giving the excuse of the lack of funding to not carry out the most urgent repairs.
“Dr Yii should realise that the federal government is in fact the one holding the state’s dilapidated schools hostage by not honouring the agreement that had been drawn up between both parties, which says that the first payment of RM350 million should be completed first.”
“We are talking about urgent repairs to avoid safety risks, not only education quality.
“Yet, (Dr) Yii uses this opportunity to portray himself as a defender of the federal government’s purported need for procedures and implementation rules when the quality of education and lives are at stake,” said Tiong.
He also challenged the federal government to honour its part of the bargain.
“Obviously, Sarawak has done its best to honour this agreement but when are we seeing the federal government hold up its end?” Tiong asked. — DayakDaily
