Soo: Govt doesn’t care about people’s hardships
KUCHING: Whilst Tanjong Datu constituency is flooded with development funds and projects to the tune of RM1.5 billion and still counting, State Reform Party Sarawak ( STAR) president Lina Soo maintains that the government hardly cares about Sarawakians’ hardships due to the rising costs of living.
“Top of the list is GST which has brought billions of ringgit to the government coffers, but has led to rising costs of daily goods and needs which have affected our people severely,” said Soo at a press conference here yesterday.
She added that GST is a direct contribution of money sourced from Sarawak straight to the federal government.
“If the federal government is sincere about development and progress in Sarawak, this money should remain in Sarawak for the benefit of the people,” she pointed out.
“The cost of petrol has risen twice in just two months, and each time the increase was a staggering 10 per cent. Education, health and welfare budgets have been cut, leading to termination of education financial assistance, increased hospital charges and loss of welfare benefits,” she added. She claimed that the government’s remedy is the cash handout to the people in the form of BR1M which is supposed to lighten the peoples’ burden and yet, is barely sufficient to cover inflation.
“But BR1M is just one Panadol tablet to the financial headache from the cancer of rising costs of living. And like Panadol, BR1M creates dependency.
“BR1M is just the Barisan Nasional’s grand design to give money to the people only to create and nurture a terminally dependent society increasingly reliant on government support,” Soo alleged.
“Is the government doing this deliberately, to make sure Barisan Nasional will continue to be reelected again and again by making the people dependent upon them?” she asked.