PH fed govt will not interfere with good policies of state govt – Chong

KUCHING: Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government will not make life difficult for state Barisan Nasional (BN) government in the implementation of policies and development projects for Sarawak.

In fact, they would back whatever policies and plans that benefit the people of Sarawak, said state PH and Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen.

"We will not do what the BN federal government has done to the state government of Penang, making it all difficult for the DAP state government in Penang.

"We are not Barisan Nasional, we will not make it difficult for the BN Sarawak government but will give full cooperation provided that it is in the interest of the people of Sarawak," he told an interview with The Borneo Post's sister paper See Hua Daily News here yesterday.

Chong, who was a three-term MP for Bandar Kuching before being elected as the Stampin MP on Wednesday, stressed that the stand of PH had always been clear.

"That whatever move is good for Sarawak, we will give our support and full cooperation."

He felt that the decision of Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg on the special public holidays for Sarawak 'is child's play and lacks consideration of the financial markets'.

He pointed out that what Abang Johari did was opposing for the sake of opposing and wondered if the Chief Minister had any cause to declare May 17 and 18 as special public holidays.

"What he did is very childish, immature and does not even take the operation of the financial markets into consideration," he said.

Chong explained that the objective of PH chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad declaring May 10 and 11 as public holidays was to not destabilise the economy and financial markets in the country, given that any change of government in a country was bound to induce some drastic activities in the stock market, in Malaysia's case KLCI.

"This is the reason why Tun Dr Mahathir declared the holidays. We do not want to see major fluctuations in the financial markets which may impact the country's economy.

"We would not want to see a tumble in the country's financial sector, hence the holidays. We did it for a reason and not declaring holidays for fun," he added.