KOTA KINABALU: Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia is urged to think about retiring from the Sabah political scene because the USNO president appears to be a liability for the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) coalition.
In making the call, Putatan UMNO Chief Jeffery Nor Mohamad said there are plenty more in USNO who could provide the organisation with a more optimistic political outlook.
“As everyone knows, he was a speaker for the federation once. Why, then, did he never make a statement similar to this one?
According to Jeffrey, Pandikar’s rash judgements (reckless assumptions) regarding Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim are unworthy of a leader.
Jeffrey said Pandikar was aware as a seasoned leader that the Sabah government, not the federal government, was now in charge of all projects costing less than RM50 million.
“We need to examine our mistakes before placing blame on any party. For example, the Federal Government allocated RM6.5 billion for Sabah state development, but only 39.4% of that amount—RM20.6 billion—was utilized.
“So here, who should we blame? While the price of chicken throughout Malaysia, including Sarawak, is below RM10 per kilogramme, why is the price in Sabah above RM12?” he said in a statement today.
According to Jeffrey, some contractors awarded the Pan Borneo project only completed 20% of what was required, raising the question, “Who should be blamed?
“I anticipate that the problem won’t be easy to resolve. I don’t hold the ministers responsible; rather, our policies and governance are the real weaknesses that need to be fixed right away.
“In order for our administration to be able to handle a mountain of problems with great aptitude, these are the things we must consider and resolve rather than us using outdated rhetoric,” he said.
According to Jeffrey, who is also the Sabah UMNO Elections Director, these are very important issues for the people.
“As I have said time and time again, privatising the Water Department is now a crucial issue to consider if we are to have the same access to clean water as China. We should have begun to look far.
“We should prioritise solving our bureaucratic issues and policies. If we want electricity to be like in other states, policy and bureaucratic problems should be prioritised,” he said.
Jeffrey said there is still uncertainty in Sabah regarding the true situation on Balambangan Island and the carbon credit issue.
He clarified that he continues to question the veracity of this issue as a Sabahan.
“Why does Pandikar Amin now appear to be speaking rhetorically, irrationally endorsing without providing context?
In tabling the national budget at the Dewan Rakyat recently, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced the Unity Government’s MADANI Budget 2024’s decision to allocate RM12.4 billion for development in Sabah and Sarawak.
Out of which, RM6.6 billion was allocated to Sabah and RM5.8 billion to Sarawak next year, an increase from RM6.5 billion and RM5.6 billion respectively from this year’s budget.
Additionally, Anwar said the Unity Government has increased the Special Interim Grants for Sarawak and Sabah to RM300 million, compared to RM16 million for Sarawak and RM125.6 million for Sabah previously.
Before that, the Unity Government, under the leadership of Anwar allocated RM40 million to upgrade the infrastructure and quarters facility for the staff of the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCom) in Lahad Datu, thus demonstrating its commitment to ensuring the welfare of the agency’s personnel is always taken care of.
