Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian
KUCHING: Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian’s call for opposition leaders to join the state Barisan Nasional (BN) if the latter wanted government grants shows that Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) and the state BN are playing ‘selfish politics’ at the expense of the people’s interest.
In stating this, Dr Kelvin Yii, who is the special assistant to Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen, said this callous comment has revealed that SUPP and BN have no respect for the democratic rights of the Sarawakian people and that they are willing to hold the people ransom to serve their own interests.
“Development funding, whether it be from the federal government or the state government, is derived from taxes paid by or collected from all citizens everywhere, including those from non-BN constituencies.
“The people of Sarawak are also entitled to revenues collected from the oil and gas industries. These royalties belong to the state and the people of Sarawak, not just Barisan Nasional. Barisan Nasional cannot just use that money as they please. It is not their money to begin with. It is the people’s money.
“This shows that Dr Sim and Barisan Nasional have no respect for the democratic rights of the people to elect their choice of representatives and are only interested in protecting their own political and even financial interests,” Dr Yii said in a press statement recently.
Dr Yii stated that Dr Sim’s comment that opposition lawmakers and the constituencies they represent do not deserve allocations would, in fact, work if he meant to say that constituents of opposition-controlled areas would no longer be required to pay taxes.
“The role of the government has always been to elevate society. It is responsible for bringing development to the people regardless of their background. A responsible government does not use its position for political mileage at the expense of the people’s interests.”
Dr Yii stressed that there should not be any political terms and conditions when it comes to development, adding that the politics of development, as it is being employed now, has been nothing more than a concerted attempt to deprive the people of their rights for selfish political gains.
“As it stands, Barisan Nasional does not appear able to move away from such selfish practices. The truth of the matter is that the fund allocations to so-called BN areas are little more than ‘briberies’ doled out by the ruling government to maintain control.
“Such practices have a corrosive effect on any democratic society and have long since been wiped out from many of the more advanced and deservedly more prosperous democracies.”
Dr Yii said this was similar to attempts by Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Tan Sri Noh Omar from United Malays National Organisation (Umno) to direct the Local Government and Urban Well-being Ministry (KPKT) to scrap approvals for local government projects in parliamentary constituencies where BN lost.
He added that while Umno may not be physically in the state, its way of politics is alive and well here through BN Sarawak.
“Any attempts to say that Sarawak BN is different from Umno is not only misleading but downright hypocritical.”
Instead of punishing the BN-controlled constituencies, Dr Yii said Pakatan Harapan-run state governments have taken steps to ensure opposition assemblymen receive monthly grants to operate their service centres. Allocations are also made for the people in BN-held constituencies.
“What is important is that the people everywhere, even in BN-controlled constituencies, do not suffer any lack of development whatever their political support may or may not be.”
He said Sarawak has been getting unfair and lop-sided allocations as a result of the politics that BN has been practising, thus resulting in a development gap which has left Sarawak behind for more than 20 years in comparison to Peninsular Malaysia.
“Ultimately, the irony is that many of the constituencies nationwide that lack basic amenities and development are the very constituencies that are governed by Barisan Nasional. This shows the main problem is not the just allocations, but wastage and bad governance by Barisan Nasional as well.
“This clearly shows that BN and SUPP have no love for the state and the people of Sarawak, but only love for their own party and self-interest at the expense of the rights of the people. For that reason, we must reject such politics and reject BN in the coming elections.”