Don’t be alarmed – DAP

TAWAU: Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sabah’s initiative to announce its intention to contest 20 State constituency seats and eight parliamentary seats is just to state that it is ready and prepared for the 14th general election (GE14).

DAP Sabah chief Stephen Wong said other opposition parties should not be alarmed as DAP is only stating its wishes to contest in areas that the party had contested before and which it has ‘cultivated’.

“We are already prepared and we hope the other opposition parties can come to a consensus on seats allocation as at the moment it is a bit loose,” he said yesterday after officiating at the DAP Tawau mobilization room at Fajar Complex.

He said opposition parties do not have resources like the Barisan Nasional, thus it needs mutual agreement on seats allocation earlier in order to focus on its resources.

On the opening of DAP Tawau mobilization room which is the first for DAP Sabah, Wong said it is good and will spur other branches to be serious and work harder for the election.

DAP Sabah secretary Chan Foong Hin who was also present, said DAP does not have any conflict with Pakatan Harapan members but is concerned over the slow process of seats negotiation with Parti Warisan Sabah.

He added the mobilization room will be open from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm to help voters check their voting area and also for receiving complaints.

Meanwhile, DAP Sabah is once again calling on the government to review the Independent Power Producer (IPP) pacts for the benefit of all consumers.

Wong made the call in response to the federal government’s announcement that RM468 million in subsidy will be allocated to accommodate the rising coal prices and the generation of electricity throughout this year.

“It is not sustainable. The government will eventually increase the tariff if the cost of generation of electricity continue to increase. It is just a matter of time when government will decide on a tariff review,” he said here yesterday.

He opined that the extra allocation to subsidize the generation of electricity has no difference to an increment of tariff.

“It is the people’s tax money. Perhaps the election is near, that’s why the government couldn’t increase the tariff now. But if the BN wins the next election, then we can expect a higher electricity tariff for sure,” Wong predicted.

Wong, who is also Sandakan member of parliament, said that the government should take on IPPs, which had made lucrative profits over the years.

He said, the IPP pacts must be reviewed and power plants as public equipment should be managed by the government itself to ensure that public interest will be safeguarded in the first place.

“Instead, the government pays a lot of money to IPPs every year and made the IPPs a huge profit maker at the expense of the people who are burdened by high tariff and poor services that had caused a lot of unhappiness,” Wong criticized.

He stressed that it must be changed and that the generation of electricity should not be a profitable industry.

Instead, he added, it should be public amenity, not helping cronies to make easy money from it.

Wong said the Pakatan Harapan MPs and DAP representatives have repeatedly called on the government to review the IPP pacts and reform the entire industry of power generation.

He believes that it is not necessary for the government to spoon feed all the IPPs to maintain the same tariff.

“The only way to ensure that people will have cheaper and fairer tariff, is for the government to get rid of the IPPs and turn them into public facilities that work for everybody,” reiterated Wong.