PUTATAN: UMNO Sabah is merely voicing out the grievances of the people and has no intention at all of sabotaging the “Sabah Maju Jaya” (SMJ) concept introduced by the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) government.
In fact, SMJ is a concept that, if fully implemented, will bring significant benefits for the progress and welfare of the state and the people of Sabah.
As such, Sabah UMNO Election Director Jeffrey Nor Mohamed said there is no issue for Sabah UMNO to sabotage SMJ, let alone fear this slogan, as it will not diminish the people’s support for UMNO.
Furthermore, in the eyes of the people, he said the SMJ concept has not yet improved their living standards, especially in terms of enjoying development infrastructure facilities such as road transportation systems, clean water supply, electricity, and the increasingly affected economic situation.
“We (UMNO) will not raise this issue unless the people speak up and want the party to convey it to the government through the political platform. At the same time, people are becoming more computer literate, especially through smartphones. They easily write and viralize development issues they face on social media platforms,” he said.
Jeffrey made these remarks in response to the speech by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Hajiji Noor at an iftar event organised by the Gagasan Rakyat in Klias, Beaufort, on Saturday.
In his speech, Hajiji said that the opposition leaders targeted SMJ as a subject of criticism and political capital; purportedly, they feared the SMJ slogan and sought its flaws.
According to Jeffery, in a borderless world, people now have a platform to obtain information and question their dissatisfaction with matters that do not bring benefits to them.
In this regard, Jeffery stated that the government and leaders of GRS should be open-minded in accepting criticism and feedback from the people and fulfilling the aspirations of the people in line with the SMJ concept.
Jeffery, who is also the Putatan UMNO chief, said that the people are only talking about the effectiveness of the SMJ implementation without touching on issues such as the development of Balambangan Island, the Karpowershi issue, the carbon credit issue, and now the river sand issue, which has not been widely publicised in the media and needs to be explained to the people regarding its implementation, impact, and benefits for the progress and well-being of the people in this state.
Jeffery also criticised Hajiji’s statement, blaming the previous government for failing to develop Sabah and stating that Hajiji himself is a product of the previous government and held important positions in the State Cabinet.
