Abg Johari warns opposition not to meddle in state’s affairs
KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg has given the opposition a word of warning not to meddle in the state’s affairs.
Describing the opposition as all talk, he chided them for trying to “teach Sarawak” a thing or two.
“Today (yesterday), we had an opposition leader trying to teach us. Don’t try to teach us. You are like a frog hopping from one party to another; hop, hop, hop,” he said at the launch of the state- level BN Sarawak Youth machinery at Satok Sports Complex here yesterday.
It is believed that Abang Johari was referring to former Umno heavyweight Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim who has since joined DAP.
Zaid, who is a lso former Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of legal affairs and judicial reform, was recently in Kuching as an invited speaker at DAP’s fund- raising dinner where he had called on Sarawak and Sabah not to support Barisan Nasional ( BN) for shortterm gain.
He had said that though Abang Johari had asked the people to give BN their votes so that he could negotiate with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, the negotiation would not come to fruition because Sarawak was afraid of Umno despite owning many parliamentary seats all these years.
He also opined that Sabah and Sarawak would be making a huge mistake by supporting Najib, given that “the whole world is laughing at us not just because of 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Berhad) but a lso how they redraw the boundary” and that Sarawakians would realise that they had no reason to support BN if they looked at the bigger picture and a lot more issues that were affecting them.
Abang Johari stressed that Sarawak has its own performances and pride and therefore the opposition should not try to teach Sarawakians.
“We have our dignity, we know what we are going to do. We can work with Datuk Seri Najib; we can transform Sarawak and will transform Malaysia. God willing, Sarawak will be the most developed state in 2030.
“We have the youths and we can all work together for the sake of our future,” he exclaimed to roars of support from BN Youth members in attendance.
Around 1,500 members from BN component parties Youth wings attended the launch, which led Abang Johari to express how impressed he was with the ‘sea of blue’ that welcomed him upon his arrival.
“From your chants of ‘Armada’, I am confident that BN will win big this coming 14th general election ( GE14). This ‘sea of blue’ will be the one bulldozing its way through to give BN its huge win,” he emphasised, and described the BN Youth machinery as the forerunner of the coalition’s battle towards ensuring a huge victory this election.
As the state BN chairman, Abang Johari said he had no doubt that with the support of everyone, BN Sarawak would be able to win at least 28 out the 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak. With the BN Sarawak Youth machinery now ready, he said it was a matter of time until Najib “strikes the gong”.
“When our federal BN chairman ( Najib) strikes the gong, we will go all out and this time, we will try our best to wrest Bandar Kuching ( parliamentary seat) from the opposition.
“Together we stand; together we are united and we can get back all the lost seats to BN,” he exclaimed.
During the launch, he also annou nc ed Deput y Chi e f Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas as the state BN machinery operations director for GE14.
“I have instructed Uggah as our ‘ Panglima’ to run our operations and with the support of all BN Sarawak component party presidents, we will form a strong team and wherever our candidates are, we will work hard, give them our support and reap success from our hardearned efforts.”
Among those present were Uggah; Welfare, Community Well Being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah; Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports Datuk Snowdan Lawan, who is also Parti Rakyat Sarawak ( PRS) Youth chief; BN Sarawak Youth chief Gerald Rentap Jabu, who is also Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu ( PBB) Youth chief; Progressive Democratic Party ( PDP) Youth chief Robert Ayu and Sarawak United People’s Party ( SUPP) Youth chief Michael Tiang.