Opposition's role to scrutinize the govt, LDP Youth tells Jimmy
TAWAU: The role of an opposition party is to monitor and scrutinize the government, not to do the job of the ruling party, said Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Apas Division Youth chief Lim Ting Khai.
“If the ruling party fails to serve the people, they should step down and be replaced by the opposition.
“The suggestion that opposition members should share the workload of leaders of the ruling party is completely illogical,” he said in response to Sri Tanjong assemblyman Datuk Jimmy Wong's statement criticizing him for not assisting in delivering water to areas facing critical water shortage.
Lim said Wong had delivered water to stricken areas during opposition time because the latter did not understand the role of an opposition party and wanted to take credit.
“Now it shows that Wong does not know his role as part of the government as well.
“He could not possibly argue that the opposition should do the State Government's job when he could not cope with it.”
As Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister, Lim said Wong had the responsibility of serving the people, regardless of which constituencies they were in, rather than the residents of Sri Tanjong only.
“If Wong cares so much about his constituency, he should spend his time following up on the development projects at Sri Tanjong that have yet to materialize instead of intervening in the Wisma Tionghua issue in Kota Kinabalu.”
For example, Wong has announced building an archway at Kedai Kopi Jalan Kuhara to promote Tawau tourism on November 4 last year and pledged to fight for the upgrade of two treatment plants in Tawau on March 2 this year.
Lim added that Wong had also informed the people about plans to widen the river at Mile 1.5 Jalan Apas as flood mitigation on May 4 as wells as announced that the Tawau dam would resume construction on July 24.
“The people have been asking when these projects would materialize.”
Lim said scrutinizing the performance of the Sri Tanjong assemblyman and the elected representatives was his duty as opposition.
He said the LDP Tawau division has set up a Public Complaints Bureau that allowed members of the public to file their complaints against the government's incompetence.
“Wong should do a better job as part of the State Government,” he said.
Lim pointed out that no leader in the ruling party had taken the initiative to deliver water supply to the affected households for the past three weeks before he raised the issue to pressure the government.
“I believe the people can judge for themselves whether the opposition play an effective role in fighting for their wellbeing,” Lim said.