Siah: PRS Youth info chief using ‘dud ammo’ in target practice
The AG said the roads were badly built, and the safety aspects less than satisfactory. If the AG had seen the roads in Ba Kelalan, he would have been even more critical.
KUCHING: PRS Youth information chief Andy Lawrence should use some logic in the attempted defence of his party chief, otherwise he is merely shooting blanks, leaving him and his boss no better off than when they started.
According to PKR deputy youth chief Simon Siah the state PKR chairman and Ba Kelalan assemblyman Baru Bian had reason to criticise the Jiwa Murni roads as he had seen the roads for himself. He was also quoting an Auditor General’s (AG) Report 2016, which is a public document.
“The AG said the roads were badly built, and the safety aspects less than satisfactory. If the AG had seen the roads in Ba Kelalan, he would have been even more critical.
“The objective of the government is to provide road connectivity, which is met when the roads are in mint condition. Once the roads have become impassable, after a few months or a year at the most (in the case of Ba Kelalan and Marudi), the objective has failed. Why should the government continue to pay money for projects that have failed to meet their objectives.
“Suggesting that the government repair the roads is well and good, but Andy should know that infrastructure is on the federal list, and the oft-heard reply to such requests is that there is no budget from the federal government for repairs, and this was said by Dato Sri Michael Manyin in the previous DUN (State Legislative Assembly) sitting in response to
Simon Siah, PKR deputy youth chief
Baru Bian’s queries.
“To then suggest that the Selangor government should pay for our roads shows that Andy Lawrence has little understanding of the concept of federalism. All states including Sabah and Sarawak contribute taxes to the federal coffers, and the federal government is supposed to allocate funds to them according to their needs, in the national budget,” Simon said.
He added that if Andy had bothered to do just superficial research, he would know that Selangor and Penang contributed the most tax per capita, but have received next to nil allocations from the federal government.
“In April (this year), Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim said that in 2013, Penang only received 0.07 per cent and Selangor 0.31 per cent of the federal budget from Putrajaya. Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah was reported to have said that the federal government blocked all funding to Selangor after the Opposition took over the state in 2008.
“Not only that, in March (this year), the federal government stopped federal funding of even small- scale infrastructure projects at local council level in Selangor constituencies outside of BN control.”
Simon said this sabotage by the BN/Umno government is to punish the people of Selangor and voters of the opposition, and also because of lack of funds due to mismanagement and misappropriation of our funds by the prime minister and his BN/ Umno government, which Andy and his boss seem to be proud to be associated with.
“Due to the neglect by the federal government, Selangor and Penang have to depend on their own funds for their expenditures and projects. Why should they subsidise development in Sarawak, a fixed deposit of the BN? Andy should question his loyalty and that of his party to the BN coalition instead of simply shooting without applying his mind or logic to the bigger picture.”