Not right for MP to ‘belittle’ Serian folk, says DAP man
SERIAN: Serian MP Datuk Seri Richard Riot should not come out with ‘ knee-jerk’ statements that could be taken as “undermining the wisdom of the electorate” here.
Democratic Action Party ( DAP) Serian branch chairman Edward Andrew Luwak raised this call in a press statement issued yesterday, referring to news reports quoting Riot as having said that he was baffled by the hosting of a ‘ Tabung Harapan’ fund-raising dinner here recently, and criticised the organisers for collecting money from the “poor Serian people”.
In this regard, Edward said the voters in Serian had chosen to show their appreciation as Pakatan Harapan ( PH) supporters.
Moreover, he regarded Riot as being unaware of the Serian folk’s love for and of them wanting to save the country, which is in a grave financial situation due to the bad governance by the previous administration.
“Does he ( Riot) not see that the villages raise funds for their churches every year through food fairs, jumble sales and fund- raising dinners? Why single out our effort to raise funds for Tabung Harapan?” he questioned.
Edward pointed out that many Malaysians had contributed to Tabung Harapan, adding that the Catholic Church in Malaysia had announced that for the fund, it managed to raise over a million ringgit from Catholics nationwide.
He believed that as a parliamentarian, Riot should first and foremost look into other more pressing matters.
“If he ( Riot) is trying to jump over the fence with this sort of mediocre reaction, then he is not worth his salt as an elected representative, because Serian has far more important issues to deal with.
“The Serian folk are not poor (as claimed by Riot) – many are professionals and industrious people. It’s not fair to ridicule the people,” said Edward.
It is estimated that over 1,000 people attended the ‘ Tabung Harapan Malaysia’ fund-raising dinner held at SJK Chung Hua Serian multipurpose hall recently where according to Edward, the organisers managed to raise RM3,100.