AFTER being accused of living in an imaginary world, Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor must also think the same of the people in Sabah when all he did was raise their plights and not resolve their problems.
The Sabah Umno chief said the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah Chairman also spent money to install billboards that included the state’s coat of arms “Sabah Maju Jaya” to reflect his administration’s SMJ Development Plan, while all the people still faced difficulties.
“He (Hajiji) could easily deny the real difficulties faced by the people and accuse me of being out of touch and living in a fantasy for pointing them out.
“If I am accused of being out of touch, perhaps the chief Minister has detached himself from the realities to the extent that he would be unaware of the real situations.
“If he was able to accuse me to be as such, then he would probably also be saying that the people of Sabah are also out of touch and living in a fantasy,” he said in Kota Kinabalu today.
Bung also noted the records show that Sabah has the highest number of power interruptions (average 300 minutes a year), the highest number of poverty incidences and unemployment in the country.
"Maybe these numbers are also “imaginary", he said.
Bung took a swipe at the GRS Sabah Energy Roadmap launched last year, saying it has not yielded the desired results.
He also scoffed at the Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) that aims to give a quick fix to the electricity shortage issue in Sabah, calling it redundant.
He said the plan requires huge resources to build windmills and solar systems to charge up the batteries.
Towards this end, Bung also defended that in his short time as Sabah deputy chief minister and Works Minister, he had successfully elevated the state Public Works Department into a technical committee.
He said this was one of his achievements, which was contrary to Hajiji’s claim that he had failed in his duties when holding the two positions for about two years.
“This is important so that the development rate in this state can be accelerated without having to refer to the federal technical department's approvals, which are laden with bureaucracy.
“We do not want situations where billions of ringgit in development budgets are announced every year, yet the allocations cannot be utilised due to sluggishness in planning and department approvals,” he said.
Bung also questioned whether projects such as the contentious Tanjung Aru Eco Development, Papar Dam, KK Resort City, Lokawi Resort City, and others, previously by the GRS administration, have indeed generated the thousands of jobs they were purported to create.
He also wants Hajiji to check whether his poverty reduction plans indeed fulfil the indicators in the National Poverty Index which included access to education, health, affordable homes, quality basic amenities, and improvement in individual income.
“These indicators are crucial to ensure that the people's suffering can be drastically reduced and systematically reduce the percentage of poverty in this state.
“My advice to the Honourable Chief Minister is to realise that erecting rows of billboards proclaiming 'Sabah Maju Jaya throughout the state will not change the lives of the people,” he said. - The Vibes, April 5, 2024
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