Why fetter community leaders, asks Leon
KUCHING: DAP Sarawak vice chairman Leon Jimat Donald has called on the Sarawak government not to stop community leaders from attending programmes organised by the federal government in the state.
He made the call following the posting of a circular purportedly from the state government, which has gone viral on the social media. The yet- to- be verified circular warns community leaders against joining or attending any event or programmes not organised by the state government.
“The State Government under GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) should come clean on their position with Pakatan Harapan. While their leaders are crowing that they are PH- friendly, their actions towards PH members in the state show otherwise.
“GPS or these former BN leaders have projected an extreme hostility towards the leaders of PH in many an occasion where they have ordered the community leaders to sabotage any attempts by the Federal Government in getting closer to the people,” he said.
He pointed out that such action to stop community leaders from going to programmes organised by the federal government, if proven true, borders on absurdity and reflection of GPS not being sensitive to needs of the people.
“How can they stop the community leaders from meeting federal government representatives? Why should they stop the people from soliciting aid from the federal government?”
According to Leon, he was recently in San Demam, near Sri Aman to hand over a cheque from the federal government to a longhouse there. The funding was from Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Chong Chieng Jen’s allocation, for a minor rural project at that longhouse.
He also pointed out that the PH federal government was trying to fix the problems caused by the BN regime which the leaders in GPS were a party to before.
“The federal government is now identifying and introducing many new programmes to benefit the rakyat. Please be patient as we wait for the 2019 Budget announcement soon.
“Certain programmes under the previous BN regime has been put under review, as certain programmes were seen as wasteful, priced too high above market projections and not beneficial to the rakyat,” he said.