Make wise choice, people urged

SANDAKAN: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak yesterday called on the people to make a wise choice at the polls on May 9 and elect the party that can make their lives better in the future.

The Prime Minister said the criteria for selection should not favour the party which plays on the people’s emotions, hurls slander and pursues a personal agenda.

“That’s not good criteria because one has to use one’s wisdom to elect the party that can make life better in the future.

“Support the Barisan Nasional because everyone knows that in an election we have to make an evaluation, determine the criteria,” he said at the opening of Sekolah Kebangsaan Bahagia in Batu Sapi near here.

Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman, BN candidate for the Batu Sapi parliamentary seat Datuk Linda Tsen Thau Lin, BN candidate for the Sekong state seat Datuk Samsudin Yahya and BN candidate for the Kamarunting state seat Lim Kai Ming were also present at the event.

Najib, who is also BN chairman, stated his commitment to continue to develop Sabah to abolish the development gap between Sabah and Sarawak and the peninsula.

He said the entire territory of Sabah would transform over the next five years.

“We have an agenda. We do not merely make pledges. We fulfill our pledges. That’s why the people place their trust in the BN. I promise to continue to make Sabah more progressive,” he said.

Najib said his commitment to Sabah was reflected in the frequent visits he had made to the state over the past nine years as the Prime Minister.

He had visited Sabah more often than the leader of the opposition who had been the prime minister for 22 years, he said in an apparent reference to Pakatan Harapan chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“The leader of the opposition has helmed the country for 22 years but he has not been close to the people of Sabah, meaning that Sabah is not close to his heart,” he said.

Citing the example of an RM1billion allocation in the 2018 budget to upgrade dilapidated schools in Sabah, Najib said it was a pledge by him as the prime minister to the people of the state.

He said he was aware of the many dilapidated schools in the state and the problem was also raised by Chief Minister Musa.

“He (Musa) did not even dream that I would give RM1 billion. This is my pledge as the prime minister and to ensure that the development gap between Sabah and Sarawak and the peninsula is abolished,” he said. Najib also said that the construction of the Pan Borneo Highway, with an allocation of RM16 billion, that was being implemented in phases was another of his commitments to Sabah, which was to improve the road network for the people’s comfort.

He said more development would be implemented in Sabah to ensure that the state continued to move forward.