HAPPY NEW YEAR: Wong (fifth left) counting down the last few seconds to the New Year with Lau (sixth left) while (from second left) Ngieng, Hii, Tiong, Sim and others look on at Sibu Town Square Phase 1.
SIBU: Sibu with good infrastructure reinforced bystrategic geographical location should be developed into the state’s cargo distribution centre.
Making the call on Thursday night was Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Robert Lau, who said this would help spur more economic activities in the town.
“All goods will have to come to Sibu and later distributed to the north, to places such as Miri and Bintulu and so forth,” Lau told a press conference at a leading hotel here.
“This is because Sibu is strategically located right at the entry point to the central region of Sarawak,” he said, adding that the completion of four bridges and good air connectivity to Tanjung Manis boosted this.
Lau pointed out that among others, shipping and tourism industries in Sibu should be further developed to stimulate more economic activities. For that, he requested the local populace even if they had different political or economic views not to create negative perceptionwhich could make investors shy away from Sibu.
Lau added: “We have beendoing to the best of our ability to attract people to come and develop Sibu.
“In this connection, we hope the people here will have a feeling of love for Sibu so as to ensure that the town will continue to develop and prosper.”
Earlier, in his New Year message, the deputy minister appealed to the local populace not to forget the contribution of the BN visionary team headed by Minister of Environment and Public Health Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh towards Sibu with development worth about RM2 billion.
This, he said, includedroads linking Tanjung Manis, airport terminal renovation, people housing programme in Rantau Panjang, and construction of bridges.
The development was made possible by their good teamwork and also through the BN channel, he said, reiterating his call to the people not to forget the contribution of the BN visionary team.
He also had learned about some people saying that their team had not done enough for Sibu. This group of people, he added, wanted to go for the alternative by rallying behind the opposition.
For this, he urged them to give their intended course of action a proper thought.
“I ask them to weigh their decision carefully.
PakatanRakyat (PR) now here, headed by DAP – is it a better alternative to BN? “Don’t play with your vote if you think that it is not a better alternative,” he said.
Lau urged the local populace to stand solidlybehind the BN in the next state election so that “we can endeavour to do more for the people.”
Earlier, Lau also spoke briefly about the world economy before dwelling onto the regional front.
On the 1Malaysia concept expounded by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, he hoped the people could give him more time.
On Sarawak, he said Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud had successfully united the 26 different races and brought economic prosperity to the people. The economic development, he added, had contributed to the tens of thousands of jobs for Sarawakians.
Among those present were Minister of Environment and Public Health Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh, Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) chairmanDatuk Tiong Thai King, deputy chairman Daniel Ngieng, SMC secretary Hii Chang Kee and Sibu Resident Sim Kok Kee.