By Azman Habu | August 22, 2012 Free Malaysia Today
TAWAU: DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has encouraged Sabahans to embrace the chance to chart a new direction for Malaysia by taking the opportunity in the coming general election to dictate who would be the prime minister of the country.
Speaking at the Pakatan Rakyat Hari Raya open house in Tawau, Lim said the chance for Sabahans to determine their future was at hand and they should not waste it.
“With the current federal government shaken and unsure, Sabahans can determine their path and determine who will head Putrajaya,” he told the huge crowd that turned up at the open house held at a hotel here yesterday.
Lim said that in the past, Sabahans had only voted for their assemblymen or Members of Parliament without having the chance to choose the nation’s prime minister “But this 13th general election, we have power to determine the seventh prime minister. This time we have a chance… before we didn’t,” he said.
The veteran opposition leader also urged the people of the state to consider the past and all the missed opportunities for a developed and progressive Sabah due to corruption, oppression and uncaring governments that did not know how to solve the people’s problems.
“So we need to use that power to change. We [Pakatan] are ready, but there are those who are not ready. Najib is not ready, he is scared, not brave, scared of losing power. He has lost the support of many,” he said.
Lim said the anniversaries of Merdeka and Malaysia Day were approaching and while the Barisan Nasional government and its leaders were trumpeting they had “Janji Ditepati” (promises fulfilled), he asked if this was really so.
Unfulfilled promises
He said he has visited and heard from the people from the interior in Marudu, Kudat, Matunggong and Ranau and they were disheartened and angry that their situation had not improved after almost 50 years since the formation of Malaysia.
“In Ulu Kukut, we have the worst road in Malaysia. Is this ‘Janji Ditepati’,” he asked, adding that if government promises were fulfilled, such roads will not exist anymore.
“There is piping, but no water; where is the promise fulfilled? Ranau’s Mamut copper mine, after more than RM3.4 billion had been taken out of it, the place now is very toxic. What is the state and federal governments doing about it? Nothing,” he said.
He said there is a long list of unfulfilled promises, one of them being the Tawau dam which was promised about 30 years ago but still not built.
Lim said that if Najib took the trouble to tour Sabah he would be able to see all this but he would not do this for obvious reasons.
Among the opposition politicians seen at the gathering were Tawau MP, Chua Soon Bui, from the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), Sabah PAS commissioner Aminuddin Aling, PKR Tawau divisional head Kong Hong Ming as well as Sabah DAP head Jimmy Wong.