SANDAKAN – Sabah opposition chief Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal today slammed the state government for spending millions to put up “Sabah Maju Jaya” signboards all over the state when Sabahans continue to lack basic infrastructure.
The former chief minister questioned the rationale behind setting up the signages, as he could not see how it would benefit the people.
“There is no sign of progress and Sabah is instead regressing, which makes the slogan ‘Sabah Maju Jaya’ a mockery of the inferior living conditions that people in Sabah have to put up with every day,” Shafie said in a statement.
The Warisan president said Sabahans continue to face decades-old issues of poor access to everything, from pothole-riddled roads to water supply disruptions in urban centres like Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan, and frequent power cuts, including the recent major outage at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu.
Shafie also urged the government to step in and address the rise in prices of food items, especially necessities like cooking oil, which he said had gone up to nearly RM30 for 3kg compared to RM29.70 for 5kg for the Sabah brand Bess, which his previous state administration launched.
He stressed that Sabah – the nation’s largest producer of palm oil – has more than enough supply to roll out its own local production of cooking oil.
“The state government needs to listen to the problems voiced by the people and make a serious effort to help them,” Shafie said.
“Simply sweeping the problem under the carpet is not the way. The people's suffering is real. They need help.” – The Vibes, April 30, 2022
