Warisan failure, says Hajiji
KOTA KINABALU: Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor has dismissed claims that the GRS and Pakatan Harapan (PH) Plus government (GRS PH Plus) led by him has been a letdown and failed to bring development to the state.
The Sabah Chief Minister said the opposition especially Warisan should look at Warisan’s performance during its two-year reign before accusing the GRS PH Plus government of being a failure.
He said the then Warisan government under Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal as the Chief Minister would not have been rejected by the people in the last state election if it had brought development to the state.
“We have made many changes. I want to state that we (GRS) are successful as a government because we do a lot of programmes for the people and their development.
“The one who failed was Warisan, Shafie Apdal. He said the government (GRS) failed but we want to ask Shafie why Warisan ruled Sabah for two and a half years before but is now speaking about we have failed. The ones who failed were Shafie and Warisan. I don’t see what he did for two and a half years in Sabah.
“That’s why Warisan and Shafie were rejected by the people. We don’t talk nonsense or empty. Talk about the failure of the GRS government … what is the failure? The ones who failed were Shafie and Warisan,” he said when officiating the PGRS Mini Carnival 2024 at Alamesra here on Saturday.
“I see on social media accusations towards the GRS government of failure, but I am sure that our people know the situation and they are good at judging. Those who are accusing are Warisan leaders who have been twisting stories since so long,” he said.
The Chief Minister also asked Shafie the number of investors who came during the two and a half years that the Warisan government ruled.
Hajiji said just within two years after GRS took over the state government, investors had flocked to the state and fully occupied the Sabah Oil and Gas Industrial Park (SOGIP) while the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP) is almost full.
He explained that the achievement was due to investors’ confidence in the current government and for that reason, the State Government plans to open a new oil and gas industrial park in Kimanis as well as another new industrial park between Kota Belud and Kota Marudu or Kudat.
“This is all for the people. We bring in investors to create job opportunities and I focus on the people. We can create thousands of jobs through the entry of investors. This is what we have done, not selling political stories.
“With the election approaching, everyone is criticising me as if they are angels,” he said.
Hajiji said there were many problems like the water issue which were inherited from the previous government but he believed the current state government could resolve them.
Also present were the vice presidents of Gagasan Rakyat, Datuk Dr Mohd Arifin Mohd Arif and Datuk Masiung Banah, secretary-general Datuk Mohd Razali Razi, head of the state Youth movement, Datuk Fairuz Renddan, state Women chief, Datuk Redonah Bahanda and state Beliawanis chief, Emmie M. Idang.