BARISAN Nasional government and its elected representatives are sincere in serving the people irrespective of their constituencies, but remain humble in making their contributions known to the public.
Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali (BN-Semariang) said she had reached out to a constituent in Batu Kawa, but never thought of announcing such good deed to the world.
“I was welcomed in Batu Kawa and someone sought help from me even though I am not their YB. I do not have to tell the world that I helped someone in Batu Kawa,” she said yesterday when debating on the Head of State’s address.
Hasidah stressed sincerity mattered when it came to serving the community, and that she would not seek cheap publicity on her contributions.
Her statements invited a point of clarification from Christina Chiew (DAP-Batu Kawa), who said: “Yes, we serve the people and do not care where they are from. But not Nangka (assemblyman), he was a bit sensitive yesterday (Wednesday).”
Immediately after Chiew responded, Hasidah said: “The point here is, you do not simply declare that we do not do anything, because that is not true.”
She added it took time for the government to implement projects for the community particularly when a bigger amount of funds was involved.
“It takes six months to build a Rolls Royce but it only takes 13 hours to build a Toyota. To me, we in BN, are sincere in serving and on the requests from Batu Kawa, Padungan or Pending, we help all and do not declare to the entire world.
“We help because we are sincere and also because it is my job to help.”
Chiew did not seem to be convinced and wanted to seek further clarification. However, speaker Datuk Amar Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar ruled “no interruption” as a response to Chiew’s request.
Earlier, Hasidah said elected representatives had to balance humanitarian efforts with legal issues and Rumah Mesra Rakyat (RMR) projects.
She added the government never deprived the people of their basic needs such as housing since a lot of RMR projects had been implemented state-wide.
“We never demolish houses on unauthorised land. On the contrary, we build RMR for their convenience or as replacement of their previous places.”