Lo Khere Chiang
He claimed for someone who has almost zero working experience, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) Socialist Youth Sarawak publicity secretary (Aziz) was a little too arrogant.
“His assumption and administrative knowledge appear to be copied from one of his university lecture notes. In real life, without the availability of funds, the textbook concept falls apart.
“Let me give you some factual information on the finances of Padawan Municipal Council (PMC),” he said in a statement in response to Aziz’s recent statement about the council lately.
Lo, who is also PMC chairman, said their annual assessment rates was RM23 million. Emoluments for its 450 staff is RM19 million, rubbish collection RM7.9 million, and desludging service RM2.5 million.
He said they received RM2 million development grant from the Sarawak government to carry out drain and road improvement works.
“The cost of maintenance is always a challenging issue. Nobody would dispute this. It’s high.
“If the council were to collect more than the present assessment rates to meet all the development needs, the rate payers will surely feel the pinch.
“Even now making ends meet is already hard enough. We do not want to burden them with further assessment rate increases. We try to keep it as low as we possibly can,” he said.
Lo said Aziz should help the Sarawak government to shout at his bosses in Putrajaya to give Sarawak its oil revenue instead of telling ratepayers to pay more.
“Aziz should go to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng telling them to keep to their promises; to return 20 per cent oil royalty, to return 50 per cent taxes and to return all rights and privileges enshrined under MA63 to Sarawak,” he said.



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