By Karen Bong
KUCHING, Oct 20: Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen opines that Lo Khere Chiang should resign from his position as the MPP chairman if he is more interested in politicking than resolving issues faced by the people.
Chong has come to the defence of his special assistant Michael Kong, who had recently highlighted the bad traffic congestion at the 7th Mile Bazaar that was aggravated by partial road closures leading to the Ee Ann City commercial centre, in which Lo responded by saying that Kong was “adding fuel to the fire” with unconstructive or unhelpful criticism.
“It is not a problem cooked up by Micheal. In case Lo Khere Chiang is not aware, before Michael wrote in (to Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) and Public Works Department Sarawak or JKR), the shopkeepers or businesses of Ee Ann City had already written in to MPP on Oct 10.
“It is a very well written and detailed letter highlighting the problem and solutions which was signed by 40 shopkeepers and shopowners of Ee Ann City,” he told a press conference at the Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) headquarters here, today.
As such, Chong who is also the Kota Sentosa assemblyman, expressed regret over the attitude shown by Lo which he said was uncalled for as the head of the local council.
“Instead of looking into and addressing the problem, Lo Khere Chiang tried to politicise it and make unreasonable and unfounded allegations against Michael. Not only (is the attitude) uncalled for but insensitive to the needs and complaints of residents under MPP’s jurisdiction.
“I urged Lo Khere Chiang, as the council chairman, to please do his job and not sit in the cosy environment of his office and make unfounded allegations while not doing his job to resolve the problems faced by the people,” he hit back.
If Lo wanted to continue doing politicking work, Chong added, maybe it is time for him to resign as MPP chairman.
“If he (Lo) wants to do politicking while sitting on the chair as council chairman without addressing problems faced by the people and businesses in the area, he should resign and just be an Adun (elected representative).
“Not holding two positions, playing politics when he is supposed to do the chairman job,” he added, reminding those present that it is the duty of the government-of-the-day to resolve issues and problems faced by the people.
Chong shared that according to Sarawak JKR, the feeder roads within the Ee Ann City commercial centre, located adjacent to the Kota Sentosa Hospital with 100 shoplots, are under the jurisdiction of MPP while the main road was under JKR.
“Nevertheless, it is for the council and PWD (JKR) to coordinate to resolve this issue,” he said, adding that Kong will send a second copy of the letter by shopkeepers to MPP.
Meanwhile, Kong had on Oct 12 complained that the partial closure of roads at 7th Mile Bazaar’s Ee Ann City commercial centre due to the construction and upgrading of the Pan Borneo Highway along the Penrissen Road, has worsened traffic congestion in the area especially along Liu Shan Bang Road where traffic has been diverted to.
Shopkeepers, residents and even customers have complained about the immense inconvenience with the new traffic flow arrangement and thus Kong wrote a formal letter to urge MPP and Sarawak JKR to come up with alternative routes such as opening a direct exit to Penrissen Road so that those leaving Ee Ann City would not have to get caught in the bottleneck at Liu Shan Bang Road.
In response to this, on Oct 14, Lo said that Kong should understand that any infrastructure projects especially related to roads may cause temporary inconvenience to road users and the community.
Lo thus felt that such unhelpful criticisms were unnecessary and inept as it would only add fuel to the fire.
He emphasised that all development projects implemented in MPP areas were for the benefit of the people. — DayakDaily
