KOTA KINABALU: Sitting amongst 40% of Malaysia's poor, wealthy Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman is grossly uncomfortable. It's an attention that neither he nor his 16-year-old regime needs much less want.
The opposition groups have slammed him over the World Bank Report's shocking disclosure that Sabah is the poorest state in the country despite its oil and natural resources.
Even more insulting to Musa was the fact that WRB's East Asia and Pacific Region Human Development Sector director Emmmanuel Jimenez was least impressed with the scenic ride from the airport to the capital city.
In fact Jimenez had told reporters that "..coming from the airport to the hotel, you don't see poverty but the statistics say there's a lot and there are huge disparities" and there are "deep pockets of poverty here in Sabah."
Musa's attempt at countering these revelations with a denial by his emissary from the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) riled Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Yong Teck Lee so much that he accused the state of a 'cover-up.'
"For an important matter such as this, the person who is answerable is the Chief Minister," Yong had said.
And so it was earlier this week, Musa, without directly addressing the core issue in the 'poverty' report, said 'the government was committed to strengthening the 'economic climate and livelihoods of Sabahans."
Speaking at the launch of the installation ceremony of the Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS), Musa urged the economically active community not to believe those 'giving wrong information and fanning government hatred.'
Don't believe the opposition
Working on their psyche, he said the government was all out to strengthen the state's economic climate, which incidentally was one of the approaches suggested by the World Bank Report for the state and country to achieve Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's aspiration of a high-income economy.
Two other strategies proposed in the World Bank Report were:
promoting investment in human capital by strengthening education and vocational skills training; and
providing well-targeted social protection to help those who cannot help themselves.
Said Musa: "The government is committed to strengthening the economic climate in Sabah and the livelihoods of Sabahans through the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) and the Sabah Development Corridor (SDB).
"We know that this stability is the most important factor and I urge you not to take it for granted."
Musa said there were attempts by certain opportunistic groups to embarrass the government.
"Don't believe them. They are opportunists who want to smear the image of the state by giving wrong information and fanning government hatred.
“They are desperate now because they have no real issues except for personal agendas of gaining power,” he said.
Citing Barisan Nasional's Batu Sapi victory, he said people's support of BN was evident during the campaign.
"I hope that the people will judge carefully, and continue to support the government," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment