KUCHING: State Assemblyman Batu Kitang, Lo Khere Chiang urged DAP to look at themselves before criticizing SUPP after taking power  two years in the government: and failed to keep their promises.

Lo hit at Chong Chieng Jen’s special Assistant, Tan Kok Ping who seems ignorant of the history of Malaysia when he opened his mouth to criticize him when he was commenting on Petronas Chief executive who resigned due to his disagreement with the PM to pay us RM2 billion in sales tax. 

“First of all, on the 2019 Federal Budget, the allocation for Sarawak of RM4.346 billion was only 7.94% of the total development budget as compared to RM4.336 billion in 2018. The 2019 Federal Budget does not reflect a fair and equitable allocation to Sarawak despite the promise made by the state Pakatan Harapan to make sure that the Sarawak and Sabah will get 30 per cent of the federal allocation. The PH Budget also failed to mention the 20 percent oil and gas royalty that the Pakatan had promised to give to Sarawak. So what exactly has DAP Sarawak done so sincerely for Sarawak?,” he said. 

“Sarawak got a bad deal when the PH took the helm of ruling the country. We were left in the rut even though beautiful promises were made during the PH election campaigns especially in the DAP ceramah. As their PH leader put it, the manifesto is not the Bible and these promises were made because he did not think they would win GE14 anyway. There was also no mention of the allocations for affordable housing projects for Sarawak,” he said.

“The then Pakatan Federal government failed to provide the necessary allocations to ensure Sarawak would be a developed state. What I was most livid about was that allocations that were promised us during the previous government for the development of Sarawak was cut. The Sarawak state government had to step in to help put up the money for these projects- roads, three important bridges and even money for dilapidation schools. Under the PH government, even money for grass cutting in Sarawak was reduced from Rm800million to a mere Rm100million,” he added. 

“The three bridge projects that the then PH Federal government withdrew from had a total face value of Rm1.1 billion- RM300million for Rambungan bridge, RM300 million for Batang Igan bridge and RM500 million for the Batang Lupar bridge,” he said. 

Worse still, Lo reckoned that when the DAP leaders promised that UEC would be recognized as soon as they took power. Instead, the first thing the Education Ministry did in 2019 was to cut the budget for Tar University College from RM 30million to Rm5.5million and was further reduced to a pitiful sum of RM1 mil! Then come the black shoes, white shoes and swimming lessons in hotel pools. 

“So, I am asking Tan Kok Ping, What is there to glorify PH about when the situation in the PH coalition itself was a mess and even today the mess looks even messier. I shudder to think of PH in charge while Covid-19 is on us. Would they still be thinking of who to pass the PM baton to during that period of time? Tan Kok Ping wants to talk about history? Can that be changed? Why talk about those past leaders who are long dead and cannot defend themselves? What did they do to rectify those “mistakes” in their 22-months reign?,” he said.

“All sweet talks to assure the public but when in power, they were more like timid and toothless mice flip-flops after flip-flops occur and they could not convince their PM to allow them to carry out their promises made to the people. What a shame this is on DAP Sarawak and is this the history, Tan Kok Ping wants us to remember?” he asked.

Surprisingly, Lo added that Tan Kok Ping stated that  it did not happen after the PH took over. What did not happen? What were the “problems” which miraculously disappeared after PH took over?And then when they lost power, did the problems surface again? 

He said History is history. 

“There is no need to go back to history to blame past leaders. We cannot change what happened in World war 1 or World war 11. That is why we called it history to let us learn lessons from it. The PH government wants everyone to believe that all our problems started on 3rd April 2009 when Najib was sworn in as PM. Why then would DAP slander Tun Mahathir when he was PM before 2009? Does Tan Kok Ping still want to talk about history?”

“DAP supported PAS. What about that? Who asked DAP to make all those promises they cannot keep? UEC, Lynas, 50% of taxes returned, 20% of oil returned. Do not underestimate the rakyat. They are smart and can see for themselves the damage  DAP has done after they supported them. Many are disappointed with DAP now. Tan Kok Ping should stop the blame game and eat humble pie. This is hardly the time for you to aim your arrows at anyone who has been working tirelessly for the good of the people of Sarawak,”  he stated.

Instead of attacking SUPP and hoping to gain more brownie points, Lo suggested that it would be better if we stop attacking those who are asking the Federal government to return us what was due to us as the Sarawak state government has been doing even while our beloved TOK NAN was still with us. We in SUPP have never strayed away from our commitment to looking after Sarawakisns’ interests ; not then while we were working as a coalition with BN then and not now as we work  as a coalition with GPS to get back what rightly belongs to us Sarawakians.

https://sarawakvoice.com/2020/06/29/look-at-yourselves-sarawak-dap-told/