Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong
Chong Chieng Jen
KUCHING: Infrastructure Development and Communications Minister Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong has described Kota Sentosa assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen as “stupid” when the latter refused to accept the explanation given on Pan Borneo Highway Project.
Manyin started his winding-up speech yesterday by responding to the queries raised by both Chong and Padungan assemblyman Wong King Wei on the Pan Borneo Highway project, which ended in a fracas between him and Chong without any conclusion.
“With regards to the decision to award the Pan Borneo Highway to LBU (Lebuhraya Borneo Utara Sdn Bhd) as raised by Honourable Member of Padungan and Honourable Member of Kota Sentosa – it was a federal government decision for a federal funded project, and the answer should be sought from the Parliament,” said Manyin.
He said the decision for the project to be undertaken under PPP (public private partnership) was commendable as it helped to expedite the implementation and completion of the project by 2023.
“If the project is to go by normal tender, it would be completed by 2030,” said Manyin.
At this point, Chong interrupted and Manyin gave way for Chong to raise three questions.
Firstly, Chong asked for an explanation on why the project was awarded to a Peninsular Malaysian-based company and not a Sarawak company. Secondly, he asked about the profit to be made by LBU, the main contractor, from the project and thirdly, the persons or quarters responsible to determine the sub-contractors – whether the Board of Directors of LBU or the Public Works Department.
Chong refused to accept the answers provided by Manyin earlier saying Manyin should answer the questions instead of “pushing it to the federal government”.
Chong’s persistence resulted in Manyin answering the three questions one by one, starting with the last question.
“I answer the last one first. The award of the sub-contractors has not been finalised. That was what I was told. And who (to) decide (on the sub-contractors) is also not finalised.
“(For) The first and the second one (questions), Honourable Member of Kota Sentosa is also the Kuching member of Parliament, why is it that he did not raise the issue in the Parliament? So, it must be because he wants publicity here in the DUN,” said Manyin.
After that, Manyin tried to bring up the RM6.3-billion project in Penang involving three highways and an undersea tunnel to counter Chong’s queries but met with even more of Chong’s protests.
Speaker Datuk Amar Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar at this point however allowed Manyin to continue on the rationale that the minister was just trying to draw parallels between the two projects.
“If Honourable Member of Kota Sentosa wants to ask me what is the profit and how much it is (the profit) going to be, then I am going to ask Penang Chief Minister what is the profit from this RM6.3-billion project,” said Manyin.
At this stage, Chong continued to protest but his microphone was turned off. Whatever he said was inaudible to the media. However, his protest seemingly worked as it resulted in Manyin becoming so frustrated that he appeared to give up trying to reason with Chong, sat down and gave way to Chong.
Asfia, however, insisted that Manyin should continue.
Manyin then tried to focus on his speech by first saying “As a rural boy in the 50s and the 60s and now as an old man in my late 60s…”
He did not finish as he was interrupted by Chong again. Nothing could be heard from Chong from the media centre but Manyin was clearly heard saying “Yes, you are a young boy, that is why you talk nonsense” before advising Chong “better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubts”.
Manyin tried to move on with the speech but Chong still protested, which irked Manyin so much that he uttered “How should I know how much is the profit? Stop it. If you have not started the project, how do you know how much to make from the project? That is stupid.”
The rowdy episode finally ended with Manyin totally ignoring Chong and continuing to read his speech. The whole fracas took up slightly more than 10 minutes.