Fatimah (fifth left) and others react in a photocall after the briefing.
DALAT: The people here have been enjoying much development over the years, with most basic infrastructure facilities already put in place, says BN-PBB Dalat candidate Datuk Fatimah Abdullah.
She, however, said there is still room for improvement in Dalat, a town with a strong sense of community spirit. When met recently, Fatimah said more infrastructure facilities were still needed and that local human capital must be tapped.
“We still have work to do to improve the living standard of the people. Our chief minister wants to focus on rural development knowing there are areas still in need of more development.”
On education, she said schools in Dalat were doing fine.
“Dalat ranked tops in last year’s UPSR results among schools in all 31 districts,” she said, attributing it to the good efforts of the teachers and the support of parents. We cannot compete with urban schools in terms of infrastructure, but parents and teachers’ commitment has made it happen here.”
Still on education, she said building up human capital was one of the important agendas in Dalat. For this, she was instrumental in the setting up of the Dalat Education Foundation which gives students a one-off assistance in their pursuit of tertiary education. She said the assistance helps outstanding students from financially disadvantaged families to go for higher education, such as buying air-tickets to reach the institution of their choice.
“To help those who are continuing their education after Form 5, we give RM1,000 to those going to universities and RM300 for those going to colleges,” she said.
On another subject, Fatimah said 14 villages in Dalat District now had a futsal court each. She said she was also working towards empowering women.
“Women play very important role in the family as traditionally men go out to work and only come back during festive seasons. It’s the women who take care of the families and make sure food is on the table. We want to build them up further through ways but in good time.”
Of the 22 villages in the district Fatimah said only two had not been connected by roads and wifi services. She said her most recent initiative for Dalat and Oya was to build more playgrounds.
“I am introducing playground in three villages as a pilot project. Kampung Teh and Kampung Tanam already have one each while Kampung Kuala Hilir has one in the making,” she said.
Meanwhile, PBB Dalat women chief, Hatiaah Sepawi, said the party usually had activities such as workshops on sewing, bakery, pastry, cosmetics and so forth to help women acquire skills that could earn them extra income.
“We have about 2,000 members and all are very active and supportive of one another. We no longer limit ourselves to doing household chores. We also contribute to the economic growth,” she added.
She also talked about Squad Sayang (Love Squad) by which they could reach out to the needy and the poor. PBB Dalat deputy chairman Sait Seman, on the other hand, said Dalat had changed tremendously over the last 30 years. “We’re happy, but we’re expecting better days ahead,” he said.