KUCHING, Aug 29: Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Corporate Affairs and UKAS) Abdullah Saidol has branded Pakatan Harapan (PH) government’s political slogans about fighting for Sarawak as completely fragile and fake.
Lashing out at PH Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen for saying that the Sarawak government did not give priority to repairing dilapidated schools, Abdullah said GPS is using the state’s own funding and that proves the state government’s sincerity in providing the infrastructure needed for all Sarawakian.
“Chong’s statement saying the Sarawak government is not giving priority to handling dilapidated school is actually (one of their) their frequent attempts to blame others, manipulate facts and confuse the people.
“Just pay attention to the admission by Chong himself, when he acknowledged GPS’s (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) readiness to take over and implement all infrastructural projects in Sarawak that were either cancelled or suspended by the PH federal government,” he emphasised in a statement, today.
According to Abdullah, it shows that it is the PH federal government has ‘victimised’ Sarawakians.
“It was the Sarawak state government’s willingness to pay her state loan earlier to provide the federal government the fundw to finance the repair work for our dilapidated schools. Ironically Chong asked why the Sarawak government is not taking similar steps to handle dilapidated schools in Sarawak.
“Has Chong forgotten or is he avoiding the fact that education, as stipulated in the Federal Constitution, is the responsibility of the federal government?” Abdullah asked.
He also questioned that if all of the federal government‘s responsibilities are to be taken up by the Sarawak government, then why should Sarawak need to pay all the taxes to them.
If that is the case, he suggested that Sarawak should only pay the federal government five per cent of oil and gas royalty, and keep the rest.
He also slammed Chong for defending the weaknesses of PH especially Minister of Finance Lim Guan Eng who has ‘failed to manage our nation’s financial affairs which caused our economy to get worse’ and the national debt to increase.
He opined that if this situation were to continue, the people will face terrible inflation.
Abdullah also opined that while PH promises Malaysians a “Malaysia Baru”, what is actually happening now is that PH is bringing this nation towards ‘Kerosakan Baru’ (New Deterioration).
Reminding Lim that he was the one who said Sarawak will go bankrupt if it continues to budget big for Sarawak’s development projects, Abdullah urged Lim to look at the state’s financial management track record and ratings compare to the current federal administration.
“…Chong’s statement also give us the hint about the level of commitment and sincerity from PH Sarawak in pursuing our state rights and interest.
“I dont think they have the guts to even talk about what Sarawak needs with their ‘big PH masters’ in Malaya. I also believe that Sarawak’s fate and future will fall if PH is to take over Sarawak’s administration,” Abdullah said. — DayakDaily
