KUCHING: The Movement for Change, Sarawak (MoCS) has ticked off Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng for his recent “Sarawak will be bankrupt in three years” remark, describing it as an insult to Sarawakians.
In a press conference, MoCS founder Francis Paul Siah said he was greatly disappointed that a federal minister had the gumption to come to Sarawak and tell Sarawakians that their homeland would go bust in a matter of three years.
“If Lim’s statement is a political move to draw support for DAP, then it has backfired. On the contrary, it only made Sarawakians resent DAP and Pakatan Harapan (PH). Such a callous statement will probably cost PH a huge chunk of votes.
“I would suggest that the DAP secretary-general let the Sarawak DAP leaders handle Sarawak affairs as they are more than capable of doing so,” he said here yesterday.
Siah also said that Sarawakians found the condescending attitude of some federal minsters intolerable.
“If federal ministers have to visit Sarawak, please come and give us what is due. Don’t come here to boss Sarawakians around or play politics.
“We have enough of politics and elections. GE14 just ended over a year ago. Sarawakians look forward to a revitalisation of the economy, our businesses need to move, our graduates need jobs, our B40 group needs housing, we need more schools and qualified teachers and we want better healthcare,” he said.
He also reminded politicians that the government was based by the people and not by the position one held.
“Lim, as a finance minister, would surely understand that if there’s expense then there’s revenue. Politics and elections are of no priority to Sarawakians at the moment.
“Sarawak cannot afford to operate in the same manner as the United States, a superpower where political leaders only have to work for two years and campaign for two years.
“We want our leaders to work for five solid years after every election. In the meantime, we would advise the federal minister not to come to Sarawak and attempt to lecture us with politics as if we were living in a jungle here,” he said.
He also said that the next Sarawak election was still two years away and there was no necessity to campaign now as there would always be elections.
“We need our elected legislators, from both sides, to work for the people, not to waste time politicking.”
Siah stressed that MoCS would continue to be the voice of Sarawakians and “we will not hesitate to speak up if we find our political leaders going astray,” said Siah.
