KUCHING, May 28: Pakatan Harapan national women’s chief for Sarawak affairs Voon Shiak Ni has come to the defence of the move to abolish non-essential agencies, saying that the ultimate goal is the good performance of the new government that will benefit all Malaysians.
“The result of the next state election and next general election depend on the good performance of the new (Pakatan Harapan) government,” she told reporters today.
Supporting the move to abolish many non-essential agencies, Voon said that it is a needed constructive and positive move to address the long overdue issue of the nation’s worrying high operating costs which have compromised funds for national economic development and growth.
“It (these agencies) was established to serve the political interests of the former Barisan Nasional government. It should not be there at the first place,” she said, adding that she was thankful the present PH government did not keep these agencies to serve their political purposes like the previous government.
She explained that the operational costs took up a large chunk of federal coffers, about 84 per cent, and left little funding for development for departments which directly serve the people like health services, education and welfare and fixing the dilapidated schools in Sarawak.
“The huge operation costs to pay salaries and maintenance of all these non-essential agencies which play little role in the building of the nation but tasked more to serve the political masters of the day have gravely compromised economic and social development for the people,” she added.
“We all need to look at the bigger picture, the efforts to revamp and build up this nation again for everyone which will definitely go on to benefit the children and families of all the staff from these affected agencies in the near future.”
She stressed that it is a long-term and honest constructive move by the present government to axe these politically motivated agencies set up by the former BN masters, an effort to save the nation. She called on all Malaysians to be patient with the new government for it to do the necessary to get the nation back on track again to its days of glory.
Voon who is also Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) national women’s vice-chief also thanked some concerned citizen groups who had taken the heartwarming initiative to call for crowd funding through social media in an effort to help to reduce the huge national debt of the nation. — DayakDaily
