KUCHING: Why celebrate when the promises made by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government were not fulfilled after one year in power, said Lo Khere Chiang.
Lo, who is Batu Kitang assemblyman, said he can well understand if the state DAP is celebrating because the PH is in power, but it is rather strange if they are celebrating their failure to fulfil their election promises.
“You don’t celebrate failures,” Lo said.
Lo then called out Chong Chieng Jen, who is the state PH chairman, asking if he is a Sarawakian or a ‘hot potato’ for Malaya.
“Before you used to roar like a lion but today you meow like a cat in front of your political masters in Putra Jaya,” he said.
Lo said after a year of Pakatan Harapan rule, the euphoria that followed the May 9 general election is rapidly evaporating.
“And what exactly did PH government did for Sarawak in the last 12 months?
“Apart from slashing projects that are beneficial to Sarawak and continuing to plunder Sarawak’s oil and gas resources, what’s the difference between PH and Umno?
“Prices of goods are on the rise, cost of living is going up, the value of the ringgit is depreciating further, the stock market is the worst among Asian markets in 2019 and the people are struggling hard to put food on the table,” he said.
Lo asked where is the promise to recognise the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and return everything to Sarawak based on it.
“In order to cover PH government’s failure, you tried to ridicule GPS. With 20 odd members from Umno going across to PH, what is the difference between the previous Umno government then and the PH government now?” he asked.
He went on to comment on what Chong said about the cut in the budget for several projects, which was done to save Malaysia from bankruptcy.
“Please explain to us in Sarawak on the privatisation of national assets in the name of Bumiputeraism, the revival of the national car, the 49 development projects in the Sandakan district worth RM2.28 billion and many more.
He said Petronas paid dividends of RM26 billion in 2018 and RM54 billion (inclusive of a one-off special dividend of RM30 billion) in 2019 to the federal government.
“Here in Sarawak we question the need for Petronas to pay RM54 billion in dividends to the government this year when a large number of claims for Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds allegedly remain unverified.
“The Auditor-General’s Report 2017, which was tabled in Parliament last year, showed that the authenticity of a segment of GST claims has not been verified.
“The broad-based GST has been eliminated but the abuse-prone Sales & Service Tax (SST) has been re-implemented and Malaysia’s stock market is at its worst now,” he noted.
He said Chong and DAP should start answering all these questions and many more as billions of Sarawak oil and gas money go into developing Malaya while Sabah and Sarawak remain the poorest in Malaysia.
Lo concluded by urging all Sarawakians to rally behind GPS to regain Sarawak’s wealth and rights pursuant to MA63, saying only GPS will sincerely protect and take care of Sarawak.
