KUCHING, Sept 18: State PKR vice-chairperson Voon Shiak Ni has challenged the state-ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government to “man up” and explain the directive to village chiefs to boycott events organised by the federal government .
“The initiative by the federal government to introduce the Majlis Pengurusan Komuniti Kampung (MPKK) generated protests and dissatisfaction from a few GPS senior ministers in Sarawak.
“Instead of hurling baseless accusations, they should ask themselves why did the Sarawak government ban tuai rumah, ketua kampung (village and longhouse chiefs) from attending events that were not sanctioned by the state government, including federal government functions,” she said in a statement.
Voon added that it was an open secret that a circular had been sent out to the tuai rumah and ketua kampung, which instructed them not to attend any events or programmes that were not organised by the state government with the words, “Bahawa Ketua Masyarakat dan Ketua Kaum tidak dibenarkan untuk menyertai atau menghadiri majlis dan program yang bukan dianjurkan oleh Kerajaan Negeri.”
She reminded GPS ministers that issuing the said directive to community leaders was actually divisive and depriving the people of information on all government initiatives and policies meant to support them such as welfare and health schemes.
“GPS owes Sarawakians an explanation on the purpose of the directive to community leaders to boycott federal government events. How can it benefit the people by keeping them in the dark of what the federal government has for them,” she pointed out.
Voon reiterated that the people’s welfare and interests should be above any forms of politics.
“The federal government’s effort to utilise the MPKK is to make sure that the policies in accordance with the vision for ‘Shared Prosperity’ reaches all levels including the rural villages to ensure that no one is left behind in their pursuance of the ‘Shared Prosperity’ objective.”
She said the federal government’s main objective was to utilise the MPKK as a channel to reach out to the people at the longhouses and the rural areas.
“Is there anything wrong here?” she asked. — DayakDaily
