DAPSY vows to help PH candidates win in GE14
KOTA KINABALU: Democratic Action Party Socialist Youth (DAPSY) is committed to helping candidates nominated by Pakatan Harapan (PH) to ensure victory for the coalition, said its national chief Wong Kah Woh.
Kah Woh said, he believed that DAPSY Sabah would work hard to help its mother party, DAP, to not only retain the existing two parliamentary seats, but to also lead the change in other areas where the the party is contesting, including parliamentary seats in the interior region.
DAP has always been a party that offers many platforms to the young people, he said during a press conference yesterday after the DAPSY Sabah convention which saw a new line-up led by 26year-old Vincent Fung Sze Zack.
Kah Woh said 30 percent of the DAP's state assemblymen and 25 percent of its members of parliament (MPs) were under 40 years old.
He said DAPSY has also been active in articulating important policies for the party, including the launching of 'Harapan Anak Muda' manifesto in Kuala Lumpur together with its three coalition partners, namely, Angkatan Muda Keadilan, Pemuda Amanah and Armada Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), in June this year.
He said the manifesto included issues pertaining to the housing needs and living burden of the young people as well as solutions to eradicate corruption with the goal to make Malaysia one of the 10 cleanest nations in the world within 10 years after PH formed the government.
He said the Youth wings of PH also talked about restoring the equal status of Sabah and Sarawak in the Federation of Malaysia, and the return of 50 percent tax collected from Sabah and Sarawak to the governments of the East Malaysian states.
Kah Woh said DAPSY Sabah had a small hiccup a year ago when a group of young leaders left the party. However, he said, the State DAPSY has since been restructured and three more new divisions have been formed, namely, DAPSY Pensiangan, Tenom and Keningau.
“DAPSY vows to be committed to help its coalition partners in Sabah, namely, Angkatan Muda Keadilan and Pemuda Amanah at wherever Parti Amanah Negara and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) candidates are contesting.
“In any situation, DAPSY is committed to help the candidates nominated by PH to ensure victory for the coalition as a whole.”
The DAPSY Sabah convention yesterday was attended by 28 delegates; seven delegates from each of the four divisions, namely, Kota Kinabalu, Batu Sapi, Sandakan and Tawau.
No measures in Budget 2018 to reduce poverty in Sabah, DAP claims
KOTA KINABALU: Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sabah yesterday expressed “huge disappointment” over Budget 2018 because of the lack of assistance and development projects that could benefit Sabah.
Its chairman, Stephen Wong, said the budget did not have measures to reduce poverty in Sabah.
Two days before the budget was tabled, Wong said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had announced that the hardcore poverty rate in Sabah had been reduced from 19.7 percent in 2009 to just 2.9 per cent last year, while the median income for Sabahans was approximately RM3,000.
He however claimed the information was inaccurate as the latest statistics showed that the median wage for Sabahans was only RM1,740.
Wong, who is also Sandakan MP, pointed out that it would take Sabahans 11.4 years compared to 5.8 years for West Malaysians to save enough money to buy a property of the same price.
“This means that the poverty rate in Sabah is high,” he said, adding that inflation had also grown by over 30 percent in recent years.
“Sabahans' wages cannot cope with the high inflation,” he said at a press conference here yesterday.
Wong said Budget 2018 had an allocation of RM280 billion, tax revenue collection of about RM240 billion, which gives a deficit of RM40 billion.
“The RM40 billion deficit will further add to the existing national debt of RM670 billion. We are worried about the financial management of the country by our national leaders,” he said.
Wong also noted that there were not many big development projects that could benefit Sabah under Budget 2018.
He aired his disappointment over the oil and gas pipeline from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan, which was not mentioned in the budget, despite promises to implement the project.
“Last week, I had asked the Minister of International Trade and Industry II, Dato' Seri Ong Ka Chuan, about the project and he said ‘no more',” he said.
Wong also pointed out that the specific amount of allocation for the Sandakan Airport runway extension and upgrading work was not included in the budget.
“Najib, during his visit to Sandakan in May, had said that the runway extension will commence work in August. It is almost November now, when will the work start? We are not criticizing the government. We just want to remind the government to fulfill their promises,” he said, adding that as the Sandakan MP, he welcomed whatever developments are in store for Sandakan and Sabah.
On another note, Wong alleged that the RM398 million and RM250 million allocated in Budget 2016 and 2017 respectively had not been spent on upgrading electricity in the rural areas.
He said the RM220 million to upgrade electricity supply in the rural areas in Sabah should be well spent.
Wong said Sabah needed a lot more infrastructure upgrade, measures to increase the income for youths and better pricing structure to ensure goods in Sabah would not be more expensive than that in West Malaysia.
He said the party had been requesting for a different Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate in the State as the people's incomes here were lower.
“It is just not fair for our people to pay higher taxes because the goods are more expensive here when our income is lower,” he contended.
Besides, he said the reduction of individual income tax rates by two percentage points for the middle class group did not address the living cost for the hardcore poor.
“Lives of the hardcore poor are not going to get better because they still have to pay GST despite their poverty,” Wong said.
He hoped the Sabah government would look into these issues and address the actual needs of the people in the coming budget that is going to be tabled in November.
Adding on, Sabah DAP publicity secretary Phoong Jin Zhe said while the party welcomed the tax deduction for the middle income group, the government should take cognizance of the fact that half of the population in Sabah earned a median wage of RM1,240.
“A 2016 statistics showed that the median wage for Sabah was RM1,240, which means that half of the working class earn lower than that. They are not supposed to pay income tax because they are too poor yet these people are burdened by the GST,” Phoong said.
He said the government should assist this group of income earners so that they too, could be taxpayers one day, which would translate to more tax revenue for the country.
Additionally, Phoong hoped that the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in Kota Kinabalu would be carried out soon to ease the traffic congestion in the city.
“Traffic congestion in Kota Kinabalu is getting worse. We need a modern and affordable public transportation in the city,” he stressed.
He said Kota Kinabalu Mayor Datuk Yeo Boon Hai had stated that construction of the BRT system would commence next year but the allocation for the project was not mentioned in the budget.
Meanwhile, former DAP Lido branch chairman Paul Len, who left the party to join MCA for over a year, has returned to DAP . He submitted his membership form to Wong yesterday.
Len joined DAP in 2010 and subsequently chaired the Lido branch before quitting the party to become a committee member of MCA Penampang division.
He said changing the government and supporting Pakatan Harapan (PH) was the only way for the people to have a better life. Len said he would do his best to ensure victory for DAP and PH in the coming election.
Also present at the press conference were DAP Socialist Youth (DAPSY) national chief Wong Kah Woh, Sabah DAP secretary cum Sri Tanjong assemblyman Chan Foong Hin, Sabah DAP Women chief Jannie Lasimbang and Sabah DAPSY chief Vincent Fung Sze Zack.