Thursday, July 31, 2008

THURSDAY-31 JULY 2008- POLITICAL TSUNAMI HIT SARAWAK, SAYS CM TAIB


Political tsunami hit Sarawak, says CM Taib


KUCHING:


Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud is confident that the political tsunami that swept several States in Peninsular Malaysia in the March 8 General Election will not gain momentum when Sarawak holds its State Election in about two years’ time. He said the political challenge is to trust the good sense of the people, especially in the rural areas, to choose between facing a prosperous or bad life “I don’t think the people will accept the Opposition’s propaganda because it only appeals to the emotions and cannot deal with the issues of looking after their socioeconomic welfare,” he said in a special interview with the media at his office in Wisma Bapa Malaysia, Petra Jaya here in conjunction with Sarawak’s 45th anniversary celebration of its progress in Malaysia. The year-long celebration was launched here on July 22 to mark the historic event on July 22 1963 when the British handed over sovereignty of the State to its people and their elected leaders. “How long will the people believe in such propaganda?” he asked, alluding to the purported inroads made by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) in certain rural areas in Sarawak as well as previous rumours of some Barisan Nasional (BN) elected representatives defecting to the Opposition. In the May 2006 State Election, the BN, as expected, returned to power, winning 62 of the 71 seats contested. The DAP won six seats, PKR (one), Sarawak National Party (one) and an Independent (one). On Federal development allocations, Taib said there is a great deal of cooperation between the State and Federal Governments in projects implementation to ensure projects were undertaken on time and within cost. More importantly is the need to make sure such benefits reach the people despite the issue becoming “more and more a political debate which did not bring any benefits to the people at large,” he said. Following the State’s new wave of development, he said, its immediate concern is to create a new economic structure so as to generate employment opportunities, especially skilled manpower for the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score). Initially the Government would need to look beyond Sarawak and Malaysian shores for temporary qualified workers to fill in the 1.5 million jobs being created in the main industries under Score, he said. - Bernama

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