SIBU: The young voters can help tip the scale in favour of Barisan Nasional (BN) in Sibu and Lanang seats this coming general election.
United People’s Party (UPP) potential candidate for Sibu Dato Andrew Wong thus believed it’s important to be very sensitive to the needs of the young voters.
“They are actually a very critical lot. Just like what they did in the last parliamentary election in 2013, they have shown that they were capable of tipping the scale.
“So, we have to be very sensitive to their needs; we can’t ignore them, we need their votes. We need their votes if BN wants to win,” he told reporters after handing out Hyprex fire extinguishers to longhouse chiefs at SK Rantau Panjang near here last Friday.
The giving of the fire extinguishers comes under Rancangan Sibu 1 (RS1).
Wong, who is also United People’s Party (UPP) Community Service Board Sibu chairman said “we need (young voters) them to vote for BN in order to win. This is very clear.”
He said many RS1 programmes were geared towards the next generation.
Wong also said the government had many good polices, which required more practical implementation, especially in Sarawak.
He said it was inconsequential just to advertise the assistance or opportunities available to the young people without telling them how to go about accessing them.
Still on RS1, he said the feedback has been generally positive.
The people are interested in three main areas, namely agriculture, e-commerce and affordable housing.
“I am happy to hear that Sibu people are not thinking about leaving Sibu but if they continue to live here, what can the government do for them.”
Hence, he said if he were nominated as BN candidate for Sibu, his platform would be RS1 “because the development of Sibu matters most to me”.
“I hope that people can see the benefit of RS1 for Sibu in the next five years,” he said, adding that he planned for the continuation of RS into 2.0, 3.0 and so on.
“If you have a plan, and if you have many people asking for this and that, the government can’t ignore them.
“Whether it is election or not, or who the YB is – these are things that Sibu people want. They want a plan for Sibu,” he said.