KOTA KINABALU – Sabah Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun hit out at salaried civil servants who failed to make sure bridges are properly built and repaired across the state for regularly putting the lives of rural children and adults at risk.
He said rural folk have to cross damaged or makeshift bridges to get to school or work.
Commenting on a recent viral video of schoolchildren at Tulid, Keningau walking on a pipeline across a river, Masidi said the incident shows that close surveillance of conditions in rural areas is badly needed.
“For me, all the salaried government workers from the various working departments – they should be able to fix it soonest, am I right?
He lamented that such conditions are sometimes not reported, but grab attention when a video or photo is taken by someone and the whole government gets the blame.
Instances of children and adults enduring many difficulties in the rural areas have gone viral in social media, triggering widespread anger and criticism among netizens nationwide.
In one case, teachers of SK Pengaraan were shown enduring 18 hours of walking to their school. There was also the case of students using a zipline to cross a river to get to school, and another where students had to travel by boat without life jackets in Pitas.
According to Masidi, much of the responsibility to handle such problems comes under the Rural Development Ministry and the federal Education Ministry.
However, he said he does not want to be quick to point figures at anyone, stressing that he has come across instances of videos and photos going viral and being exploited for a certain agenda.
For instance, there are villagers who prefer to use dilapidated bridges as they do not stretch as far as the better roads available, he said.
“Forgive me, there are those who prefer to take a risk because another bridge is located far away. For me, it is better not to be too quick to judge, but let’s find out more facts. We should not blame and point fingers from one picture or video,” he said. – The Vibes, July 28, 2022
