KOTA KINABALU – If appointed prime minister, Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim says he will be ashamed to pocket a salary while Malaysians bear the brunt of rising prices of goods.
He said the people are sick of seeing prime ministers live lavish lifestyles while ordinary folk are struggling financially.
“I will be ashamed to take a prime minister’s salary while the people suffer with rising prices of goods,” he told the crowd in Kalabakan, during his campaign talk today.
“In Islam, power is a responsibility, not a privilege.”
Anwar also vowed to change politics in Malaysia if PH becomes federal government, saying that there will no longer be a bloated administration with lots of ministers and deputy ministers like previous governments.
“There were 70 ministers under BN (Barisan Nasional). What have they done? The people are suffering with the rising of goods prices but 70 ministers cannot do anything to help the situation.”
Meanwhile, Anwar said it is not difficult to develop Sabah but hindered by corruption.
“What is so hard? Malaysia has been independent for almost 60 years. (Some parts of Sabah) have terrible roads, no electricity and water supply, and hospitals are far.
“If no one steals money, the money (for development) is enough.”
He added that even though there are people living in poverty in the peninsula, it cannot be denied that Sabah has been neglected in terms of development, and that if appointed prime minister he will bring development to the state.
PKR is fielding a fresh candidate in Kalabakan for the polls. Noraini Abdul Ghapur is the eldest child of former Kalabakan MP and Umno man Datuk Seri Abdul Ghapur Salleh.
Noraini is facing four others – incumbent MP Ma’mun Sulaiman (Warisan), Datuk Andi Muhammad Suryady Bandy (Umno), Nur Aini Abdul Rahman (Pejuang), and Muhammad Dhiauddi N Hassan (independent).
Kalabakan has 83,657 registered voters according to the Election Commission’s latest data. –The Vibes, November 12, 2022.
