Chiew Chiu Sing
BINTULU: The Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government has terminated project contracts involving huge sums of money in Sarawak to stop leakages, according to Tanjong Batu assemblyman Chiew Chiu Sing.
The Democratic Action Party (DAP) Bintulu chairman claimed in a press statement yesterday that this is because the federal government knows that funds allocated to Sarawak have not been used properly, making the cuts necessary to save the country from further future losses and wastage.
He said while it is good Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said federal projects in Sarawak would proceed, the funds would go missing should they fall into the wrong hands.
According to him, if Sarawak is still managed by the same group of people, the public would not be able to benefit from the projects.
“We in Sarawak must make drastic reforms. We know that under the present regime, many of the policies are beneficial only to the cronies or the big companies.
“If we do not change after 55 years of their rule, we can only get worse as the gap between the rich and the poor will worsen. From history, we can know that if the situation is not improved, the stability of society and the state will be further weakened,” stated the DAP Sarawak deputy chairman.
He claimed the current policies only benefited a few people, which could be seen in the ‘Sarawak for Sarawakians’ mindset.
According to Chiew, this is where only a small group hope to continue to rule and benefit, and that they are the only ones who can call themselves Sarawakian.
He pointed out that Sarawak has abundant land resources which many states or even countries lack, yet the people face problems of not being able to obtain land.
“This is most disappointing and ironic. Scarcity of land makes the price of houses go up, which in turn directly affects the low-income people,” said Chiew.
He suggested reforming land policy and allowing more people to apply for and obtain land for agriculture, which would not only benefit the people, but also improve economic development and productivity as well as attract more foreign investment.