PH call for local govt elections a promise they fail to fulfil in Selangor, Penang: Tiong
KUCHING: With Penang and Selangor failing to implement local government elections, Pakatan Harapan (PH) has no authority or grounds to call for the same in Sarawak.
Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing (pic) said the proposal by PH is merely scooping up the same swill heavily seasoned with their usual propaganda to gain political mileage and further their own agenda.
“PH and the DAP have promised council elections for years but until today they have failed to fulfil this promise in Penang and Selangor which are governed by them.
“PH’s election manifesto had promised to uphold the 1963 Malaysia Agreement, and to restore appropriate administrative rights to Sabah and Sarawak.
“Instead of fulfilling them, PH is still trumpeting these vaunted promises to restore local government elections because they believe the people continue to put their trust in them and believe their lies about the Sarawak state government,” he pointed out.
Tiong described Bukit Assek assemblywoman Irene Chang’s criticism of councillors’ appointments made by the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) state government as baseless, and aimed at diverting the people’s attention away from the failings of her PH colleagues.
Tiong said elected representatives from PH, in particular those from the DAP, were not sterling examples of serving the people.
“They won their seats by deceiving their voters with unfulfilled promises after unfulfilled promises as if they were still in election campaign mode.”
He said Chang’s logic was to restore local government elections on the basis that taxpayers have the right to choose competent city councillors to serve in urban planning and developing public facilities.
“But their talk of giving this power to the people have not even materialised in the state governments that they have governed for years,” Tiong lamented.
The Bintulu MP said PH should spend their time and energy performing actual public service to the rakyat instead of making provocations and restating the same old election promises.
He said Chang seems to have forgotten that the PH’s 100-Day promises are yet to be fulfilled because “they are not written in stone”.
“With this kind of attitude, why would they honour another election promise like instituting local council elections?” he asked.
Tiong said while PH criticised the political appointments by GPS, it conveniently forget that it has violated its own election promise not to make political appointments to public institutions and government-linked companies.
“In the case of appointing the current chairpersons to the MACC and Election Commission, they had bypassed any parliamentary select committee on their appointment, despite PH’s many pledges of ‘institutional reforms’.
“In Sarawak, John Brian Anthony was appointed to the Bintulu Port Authority and Hew Kuan Yau as CEO of the Malaysia-China Business Council. Both are political appointees,” Tiong pointed out.
