KOTA KINABALU – Sabah Bersatu wants Pakatan Harapan (PH) to commit to its general election manifesto in making the RM199 airfare to Sabah a reality.
Sabah Bersatu deputy chief Aksyah Nasrah said PH had made the electoral promise to fulfil this if the coalition were to take over the federal government.
He said it was Upko president Datuk Ewon Benedick who had noted the manifesto when he was campaigning for the Penampang seat during the parliamentary election last year.
Upko is a component of PH.
Aksyah said Benedick, who is now the federal entrepreneur development and cooperatives minister, has since failed to realise the undertaking in the manifesto.
“Right now, Benedick, a federal minister and a member of the federal cabinet, never realised this manifesto.
“When the airfare surged during the recent Hari Raya holidays, he failed to come forward to solve the problem, making it quite difficult for Sabahans to return for the holidays,” he said in a statement here today.
Expressing his disappointment, Aksyah proposed that the RM199 should be a fixed airfare for flights between Kuala Lumpur to Sabah or Sarawak, and not only be introduced during the festive seasons.
The RM199 airline fare was included in the PH election manifesto as the Kembara Siswa programme, which was targeted at students wanting to return home between the peninsula and Sabah or Sarawak.
The issue of high airfares became a bone of contention between Transport Minister Anthony Loke and his predecessor Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong in the leadup to the recent Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays.
Their spat began when Wee, who is MCA president, claimed that a round-trip economy class ticket between Kuala Lumpur and Tawau on Malaysia Airlines (MAS) was RM3,138.
Loke, the DAP secretary-general, disputed this after checking with MAS, saying Wee’s price quote was closer to business class tickets, which were even lower than the price cited.
He added that economy class tickets on the pre-Raya date Wee had selected had actually been sold out.
It then emerged that Wee had been checking MAS ticket prices on the AirAsia Super App, which drew scorn from social media users, as well as Loke’s remark that this was akin to wanting to eat KFC but going to McDonald’s instead.
The squabble did little for Sabahans working in the peninsula, who still found flight tickets too pricey during the festive season. – The Vibes, May 3, 2023
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