Masing’s text of speech.
KUCHING: The Borneo Post stands by its report of speech by Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing in which he proposed to use Sarawak’s RM31 billion reserves on local development projects before the next election due in three years’ time.
Following the public outcry over his suggestion, Masing alleged that the local media has misquoted him on the matter and that he did not propose to use ‘all of the reserves’ but rather ‘some of the reserves’.
To back up his claims, he produced his text of speech, which stated that only ‘some of the reserves’ should be used to develop Sarawak.
However, the text was only shown to the public after the outpouring of anger and scorn over his proposal and was never given to the press covering the dinner in which he made the speech. While the text of speech clearly states that only ‘some of the reserve’ is suggested to be used, recordings of his actual speech show that Masing’s speech had deviated slightly from his text-of-speech.
The Borneo Post has a recording of his speech in which Masing did not say ‘some of’ in reference to the reserves.
Following a social media posting alleging that The Borneo Post is out to demonise Masing by someone going under the name ‘Mysterious Sarawakian’ The Borneo Post is compelled to post the recording of his speech in its website. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=6FtM079qY5I).
The following is a transcript of Masing’s speech and readers can judge for themselves the veracity of our report.
“In 2021 Sarawak will be facing a general election. We will be fighting against Putrajaya and 10 states and if Sarawak’s political situation is not cohesive and fragmented and, even worse, if we still maintain the same attitude against our coalition partners, we will not only lose our goods but this government will be taken over by Pakatan Harapan.
“Not only they will take our goods, financial reserves, but they will use the reserves which we have earned to make them look they are the better administrators than us. They will be using the reserves which we have earned to construct the infrastructure like roads, water supply and electricity (supply) to our kampungs, villages and longhouses and discredit us along the way.
“Let me give you an example. Ladies and Gentlemen. We have about RM31 billion of state reserve. If not used, this RM31 billion reserve for developing Sarawak, come 2021, we may lose; we may lose the PRN12.
“The next government who take over from us, will use that reserve and build infrastructure, build roads and water supply to rural areas to make themselves look better than us. In fact, that should not be because we are the one who earned the money and they just use it to make themselves look better.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, it is important for the next three years we use that money we have accumulated and build what need to be done. We should use it to build Sarawak.”
Various newspaper reports on Masing’s statement.
Related News: Has the media misquoted Masing?