Sabah has bigger say now – Rahman

0

Yakub (left) presenting Rahman with a souvenir for officiating the Umno Sepanggar delegates meeting.

KOTA KINABALU: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan is committed to help Umno Sepanggar in achieving its development vision.

The Umno Supreme Council member said he would appoint a few officers from his ministry to work with divisional leaders to resolve development issues in the area in a holistic manner.

When officiating at Umno Sepanggar annual delegates meeting yesterday he also asked the division’s acting chief Datuk Yakub Khan to find out the cost of resolving the drainage problems in flood prone areas in the constituency.

“If the allocation needed is under RM5 million, come and see me and we will resolve it by this year. I will discuss it with the Prime Minister,” he said.

Abdul Rahman said he owed Umno Sepanggar a lot as his political career started in the division. He was moulded by his experience in Sepanggar and his ‘battle scars’ were from ‘wars’ fought in Sepanggar.

Umno, he said might be a party for Muslim bumiputeras and the Malays but it had never neglected its non bumiputera or non Muslim friends.

“We will continue to fight for the rights of Sabahans but we will not be confrontational. Sabahans have tried the confrontational way before and it did not work. So we will do it the right way.

“We have six federal ministers and four deputy ministers… the voices of Sabahans in the federal cabinet are getting stronger, especially in policy making decisions. We can also relay to the Prime Minister if we are not happy about a policy,” he said.

Sabah’s representation in the federal cabinet, the Kota Belud member of parliament pointed out, was because of Malaysians in the state who had voted for them and gave them the mandate to be their voices.

He also reminded the delegates not to cry when Unmo leaders leave the party.

“Do not cry for the departure of leaders. Those whose rise to the top. was because of Umno. You cry for the party, for the vision,” he said and reminded them that they, the members and the grassroots, were the real strength of the party, not the leaders.

Abdul Rahman also was of the opinion that Parti Warisan Sabah will lose in the 14th general election because the party’s leader Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal does not have a huge vision.

“He only wants to become the Chief Minister and there is no need to deny that story. His job is only to talk bad about others with the hope that the rakyat will believe all his accusations and lies.

“Warisan, Harapan only say vote for us because BN is not good but we in return say vote for BN because we are the best and our policy, vision are the best.

“Hatred-based politics will not last long. They (opposition parties) will not last long because hatred cannot be the basis for what we are struggling for,” Abdul Rahman said.

Meanwhile, Yakub in his welcoming speech brought up the problems faced by the people in Sepanggar, especially about traffic congestion and flooding.

“The problems cannot be allowed to prolong… they must be resolved,” he said.

Yakub also urged the government to provide more funding to Sepanggar, especially in strengthening the traditional villages.

He lamented that there was more allocation for urban beautification instead of for the people in the rural areas.

“Flowers are more important than people because beautification of urban areas are more important than the rakyat in Sepanggar,” he claimed.

“We need more allocation for basic and public infrastructures, and for social amenities ,” he said, and added that there were many villages in Sepanggar which did not have proper water and electricity supply.

Yakub in his speech to the delegates earlier also said Umno Sepanggar had sacked a few of its members as they were supporting Warisan Sabah.

He added that Umno Sepanggar would work harder with BN component parties to ensure that it would retain the Sepanggar parliamentary seat and the Karambunai state seat as well as wrestle back the Inanam state seat from the opposition.