KENINGAU: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak gave valuable advice to the people here yesterday – to choose their leaders carefully.
He said it was important to select a leader who is evaluated on their history and track record instead of their qualities as opposition chiefs.
“Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was the finance minister during the 1997 financial crisis, is not someone to be proud of as he was on the verge of surrendering Malaysia’s sovereignty by placing the nation under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) domain.
“I know this because I was also a member of the Cabinet then,” he said when launching the RM30 million Sabah Handicraft Centre at the start of his two-day visit to the state, yesterday.
He said the nation was fortunate that the Prime Minister then was Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, whose ideas enabled them to craft their own formulas to pull the country out of that crisis.
“All Anwar can do now is level all sorts of criticisms against Barisan Nasional,” said Najib, adding the ruling coalition was focused on transforming the nation to ensure a more equitable country with balanced development in towns and rural areas.
He said the setting up of the handicraft centre was reflection of this commitment as well as the existing close cooperation between the state and federal governments.
Also present at the event was Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman and various state leaders as well as Najib’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.
Meanwhile, Musa, in his speech, said the government has planned a holistic and sustainable development programme with the implementation of the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) and also other transformation programmes.
Under the SDC, Keningau has been listed as the Interior Agropolitant Zone and is aggressively going through transformation to be a tourism and integrated breeding district, with concentration on the agro-tourism, handicrafts and homestay.
“I believe this initiative would help develop the interior areas in Sabah in line with efforts to eradicate poverty. The BN government does not only plan and talk, but we make sure that they are fulfilled. We are not seasonal politicians who only turn up during the election fever, we are not like the opposition who likes to give empty promises, we are here to ensure the people’s welfare are protected,” he said.