FRIDAY-4 JULY 2008- FOUR NEW FACES AMONG 18 KENINGAU COUNCILLORS

Four new faces among 18 Keningau councillors

KENINGAU:

Four of the 18 Keningau District Council members sworn in yesterday were new faces, including a woman. They were Jaline Lian, Robert Tawik, Harry Gitik and Mathew Miasin. Those retained were Majabin Dalinus, Rosdi Padiman, Mohd Amir Datuk Arif, Daniel Kinsik, Datuk John Datuk Angian, Richard Lee, Azman Haji Ruslan, Anuar Datuk Ayub. Fabian Koh, Peter Ma, Baidi Arifin, Robert Ungkau, Haji Jasni Rahmat and Vincent Lee. They were all sworn in before District Council Chairman Haji Zulkifli Nasir. Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Joseph Pairin Kitingan said at the ceremony held at Perkasa Hotel here that the councillors should make Keningau a prosperous district. “I am confident this can be achieved if the interest and welfare of the town community are given top priority,” he said. Pairin who is also the Rural Development Minister and Keningau Member of Parliament, said Keningau should have its own District Council building like the other districts, namely Tambunan, Tenom and Nabawan. “I hope the Council could discuss and prepare its building plan with the Government agency concerned so that construction of the building could be speeded up, he said. Earlier in his speech, Zulkifli said that the Council had a surplus of RM2.2 million as of December31, 2007. It collected a revenue of RM9. 7 million and spent RM7. 5 million. However, arrears had increased to RM5. 6 million. To handle this problem, Zulkifli said the Local Government and Housing Ministry had appointed a company to do billing and collect revenue for the council. “The Council has also appointed 1w same company to do a computerization system for revenue collection and accounting. All these were done to strengthen the accounting and revenue collection system,” he said. The ceremony was also witnessed by Bingkor Assemblyman Justin Guka, Rural Development Ministry Political Secretary Wilfredoline Jakil, Local Government and Housing Ministry Deputy Permanent Secretary Ahmadshah Mohd Talib, District Police Chief DSP Zahari Mohammad and District Council Executive Officer Alfian Tun Ahmad Koroh.