MIRI – Voters in rural parts of Sarawak should reconsider their choice of candidates following 60 years of seasonal flooding and horrendous roads leading to their villages, said Phillip Jau.
Speaking to The Vibes, the social activist from the remote district of Baram said the people’s hardship continues to increase each year with no conclusion in sight.
“In our settlements in rural regions, the floods are getting from bad to worse year by year.
“The roads too are deteriorating, month after month.
“It is like living in a really undeveloped state.
“The untold suffering the rural folk have to endure from these floods and horrendous road conditions is something the state government has failed to address for so many decades.
“This is not just in Baram, but throughout the rural frontiers in Sarawak,” he said.
Jau said the incumbent politicians had made many promises to tackle such problems.
“Election after election, such promises had gone unfulfilled,” he stressed.
Having travelled throughout the rural regions of Sarawak, Jau said not much has improved over the years in terms of road upgrading and flood mitigation plans.
“We hear in every state budget that hundreds of millions in state funds are being allocated to tackle the flood problems.
“Similar huge amounts of state money are also given to improve rural roads, according to the state government.
“Why is it that there is no improvement then?
“It is time for radical change in the state administration,” he said.
As such Jau is contesting the state election as a candidate for the Telang Usan constituency under the Sarawak PKR ticket.
He is challenging incumbent Gabungan Parti Sarawak assemblyman Dennis Ngau and Parti Sarawak Bersatu candidate Jau Jok Jenggo.
The Telang Usan constituency, located about 200km inland from Miri, is as big as the state of Kelantan. – The Vibes, December 16, 2021
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