Abdul Karim addressing a question from reporters at the press conference after an event today.
KUCHING: A Gabungan Parti Sarawak leader has dismissed Pakatan Harapan Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen’s pledge to give a group of villagers here land titles if PH wins in the next state election as just another one of his promises.
Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu vice president Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the Sarawak Democratic Action Party chairman has made many promises before the last parliamentary election as well as in his speeches but they were unfulfilled.
He said among Chong’s pledges in his election manifesto were to increase the state’s oil royalty from five to 20 per cent and to return to Sarawak 50 per cent of all tax collected in the state, both of which have not been realised even though PH has been in power in Putrajaya for two years.
Abdul Karim, who is the Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister, said Chong realised some voters were gullible and could be easily swayed by promises.
“Now the state election is coming, more promises are coming from him. It is very easy to make promises. That’s why I said, when it comes to dangling carrots to the voters, Chong is an expert,” Abdul Karim at a press conference after an event here today.
Chong had told villagers at Jalan Selangan Batu here on Sunday that he will give them land titles if PH forms the state government after the next election due in the first half of 2021.
He said when he was Bandar Kuching MP, he had applied to Kuching South City Council to in 2007 to upgrade the roads in the village in the village but was rejected because the council said the villagers were squatting on state land.
Since land matters in Sarawak are under the purview of the state government, Chong said there was nothing the PH federal government could do and only through a change in government could the villagers get what they want.