KOTA KINABALU: Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat) information chief Datuk Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan stated that the government has taken steps to address issues inherited from the previous state government.
He said that the Sabah Maju Jaya (SMJ) 1.0 plan represents the roadmap for the development and advancement of Sabah over the next five years, commencing in 2021.
This comprehensive plan encompasses various areas such as the economy and the enhancement of essential infrastructure, he said in a statement today.
Therefore, he said, opposition party leaders in Sabah cannot deny the fact that the GRS PH Plus government, in line with the SMJ agenda, has implemented various approaches related to basic facilities, the economy, industry, and education, and all these approaches have been felt by the people.
“Among them are human capital initiatives, educational scholarships, and SMJ housing assistance, and some are still in progress and preparation, such as the upgrading projects of the Kogopon Water Treatment Plant, Telibong 2, and the Ulu Padas Tenom Hydroelectric Dam.
“Whatever is related to the general needs of the people, the government, through the SMJ Direction Plan, is addressing it, and this is what concerns opposition party leaders in Sabah because they will lose their political issue leverage,” he said.
The Apas assemblyman also said that the opposition leaders in Sabah are not sincere in championing the cause of the people and advancing Sabah because they are too focused on playing politics to remain relevant in Sabah politics.
He mentioned, “They tend to use the basic facilities situation as if the issue only occurred during the current government without taking any steps to address it.”
“The statements and speeches made by these opposition party leaders are quite amusing when they touch on the legacy issues of decades, even though these problems are inherited due to the failures of the previous government,” he said.
The Elopura MLA raised concerns about the issue of saltwater intrusion in Sandakan, but these leaders forget that when they were in power, they terminated the contract of a company appointed by the previous government without reason and appointed a new contractor who did not carry out the work properly,” he emphasised.
Nizam stated that generally, for people who are aware of the true intentions behind the allegations made by the opposition party leaders, it is like spitting in the air and having it fall back on their own faces.
He said that if the opposition party leaders are sincere, they should explain to the people that steps to resolve the related issues have already been taken by the government and allow time for the resolution process to proceed.
According to him, the responsibility of a good opposition party is to provide constructive criticism for progress rather than playing politics and trying to sabotage all government efforts by making baseless accusations as if the government is not taking any steps for resolution.
“In reality, it is they (the opposition parties) in Sabah who have failed to administer solutions to the problems raised when they were in power, leading to rejection by the people in the previous elections,” Nizam said.