(From left) Roland, Wu, Lee, Tan, Dr Ting, Ali and others giving the thumbs up to the Gawai do.
MIRI: Pakatan Harapan (PH) promises to bring inclusive and balanced development for the people in Sarawak.
The MP for Saratok, Ali Biju, said PH will give the best to ensure Sarawak will continue to progress further to be on par with other states in the country.
“Our confidence level is very high now compared to before. It is because PH is the future party for Sarawak. We want to bring political agenda that is able to make people smile but not politics that only brings pain to the people, particularly those living in rural areas,” he stated in his address when officiating at the Gawai celebration cum ‘Leaders with the People’ gathering at Rh Panting, Sungai Teniku, Miri-Bintulu Road on Sunday.
Ali, who is also Krian assemblyman, pointed out after PH took over the federal government administration, the people started to realise the importance for them to exercise their democratic rights.
“During the last 14th general election, many people didn’t expect that PH would achieve victory, especially those living in rural areas.
“It is because at that time, the people don’t really know about democracy but now you have changed and you know how to make the best choice.”
As the native customary rights (NCR) land issue is very close to the hearts of the people in the state, he said the PH federal government had allocated some RM21.5 million specifically for the perimeter survey of individual NCR lands under Section 18 of the Sarawak Land Code.
Touching on allowance for community chiefs in Sarawak, he said the federal government chipped in RM500 and the Sarawak government contributed RM400 for their monthly allowance.
Thus, he really hoped that there would be no elements of politicking among the community chiefs in the villages and longhouses which would only distract them from serving the people effectively, making the people suffer in the end.
Later, he announced Minor Rural Project (MRP) grant of RM5,000 for the longhouse folks to purchase building materials for a new longhouse for Rh Panting.
Earlier, Democratic Action Party (DAP) national organising secretary Vincent Wu announced a grant of RM10,000 for the same purpose. Wu said the grant was from Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Chong Chieng Jen, who is also PH Sarawak chairman.
Also present were Pujut assemblyman Dr Ting Tiong Choon, Bilut (Pahang) assemblyman Lee Chin Chen, Skudai (Johor) assemblyman Tan Hong Pin, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Baram branch chairman Roland Egan, DAP Long Lama pro-tem chairman Marcus Hugo, PKR Sibuti women chief Zulhaidah Suboh and PH members.