DAP tells Taib to heed Najib's advice

By Joseph Tawie - Free Malaysia Today

KUCHING: Sarawak’s Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud should listen to the advice of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and discard the “four ailments”, namely delusion, amnesia, inertia and arrogance, if Barisan Nasional wants to continue to weild its iron-tight power in the state.

DAP treasurer Violet Yong said the 'four ailments' were as rampant in the Taib administration and was turning the people against BN.

“There are enough examples for delusionary acts by the state government. The construction of the 12 dams is an example of delusion and the arrogance of the state government.

“The dams are irresponsible and unnecessary. By constructing the dams, Taib is going against the people’s desire. He does not care about the sufferings as a result of them being displaced.

“He thinks he is the government and that he has the power to do what he likes,” said Yong, who is the state assemblywoman for Pending.

She said that if the state BN government is a people-friendly administration, then it should stop building the dams.

“The government is yet to resolve the issue of displaced people from the Bakun dam development. These affected people should have been settled first.

"The government should have come up with a proper scheme in order to improve their livelihood and their income level.

"But they have not done this. They have allowed the people to suffer. Look at the natives at Sungai Asap, and how they have suffered as a result of the Bakun dam,” she said.

Yong said Taib had forgotten the primary thrust of the 1Malaysia concept which was ‘people first, performance now’.

She said as far as the BN government in Sarawak was concerned it was "people last and pockets first.”

Land grabs

She said another sore point with the people was BN's arrogance in grabbing native customary rights land belonging to the people.

"Taib must listen to Najib’s advice, otherwise what Najib is saying would be just another slogan in order to hoodwink the people," she said.

Yong was responding to Najib's advice to BN component parties to rid themselves of the “four ailments” before the people’s love for the BN turned into hatred, hope into anger, and support towards opposition.

Touching on the withdrawal of fuel and sugar subsidies, she sarcastically said it was "BN's gift to the people" for giving them victories in the two recent by-elections.

“This is a gift by the BN government. This is the price you have to pay for supporting BN,” she said.

Yong believed the recent price hike in the raw materials was unreasonable and one that will have a great impact on the poor people. Sarawak is the fourth poorest state in Malaysia.

“It is unreasonable, because the government has not come out with a balance policy which will help the lower income group to meet the price hike,” she added.