CM: Opposition areas won't be neglected
PAPAR: The current state government led by Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) will not neglect opposition constituencies in terms of development, said Chief Minister Datuk Mohd Shafie Apdal.
He said the people were important for the government and development would continue to be channeled to areas which were not won by Warisan and Pakatan Harapan in the last general election.
Shafie said the government was helping the people and not Umno or their state assemblymen.
He was met during an Aidilfitri Open House organized by Law and Native Affairs Minister Datuk Aidi Mokhtar and the Papar Warisan division yesterday.
Also present were the Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin and his wife Toh Puan Norlidah RM Jasni, International Trade and Industry Minister Darell Leiking, Deputy Chief Minister Christina Liew, Education and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Yusof Yacob, Warisan leaders and representatives for Kawang and Membakut, Datuk Ghulam Haidar Khan and Datuk Ariffin Ariff, respectively.
Shafie also emphasized the importance of empowering industrialization efforts in Sabah in order to make full use of resources such as timber and palm oil. Through downstream activities, employment opportunities can be increased with the development of large-scale factories such as palm oil processing plants.
He said exporting logs and oils to factories abroad such as in Japan and China, would benefit workers in Japan and China, and not Sabahans.
"We want Sabahans to benefit from it. The benefits are not only through logging concessions but jobs in factories.
"We have to be smart in planning to build Sabah. Do not emphasize on logging," he said, adding that exporting the commodities would only benefit a few timber 'taukehtaukeh' (bosses) compared to thousands of Sabahans who need job opportunities provided by downstream activities of the timber industry."
Meanwhile, Shafie denied a message that is now viraled on social media which stated that it was from the new Sabah Chief Minister.
"Tazkirah (a brief reminder)/ perutusan dari Ketua Menteri Sabah (Warisan) yg baru (message from the new Sabah Chief Minister (Warisan)."
The message urged the people, especially Muslims, to stop making fun of the former prime minister and his wife.
Shafie stressed that the message was not issued by him and he had never made such a statement.