See me: Tiong
KUCHING: Pujut assemblyman Dr Ting Tiong Choon’s remarks about a loan taken to fund the state’s coastal road and other major infrastructure projects showed his lack of understanding of the financial aspects of such crucial facilities.
Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing responded to Ting’s remarks in a statement issued yesterday.
In the statement, the Bintulu MP offered to give private tuition to Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders who lack knowledge of state financial management.
“Otherwise, Dr Ting should stick to his medical practice and leave Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) to manage Sarawak’s financial and infrastructure development instead of politicising the chief minister’s decision on acquiring a RM13 billion loan from the Development Bank of Sarawak (DBOS),” he said.
Tiong stressed that Dr Ting should have sufficient evidence before accusing the state government of mismanagement and comparing it to the 1MDB debacle.
The way he looked at Dr Ting’s press statement, he said it was clearly calculated to gain political mileage ahead of the next state election.
“It is quite disappointing to know that the Democratic Action Party (DAP) is still not seeing things from the perspectives of Sarawakians, instead of taking every opportunity to question and politicise the opportunities and facilities that Sarawak must employ to improve and grow the state economy,” he said.
“The fact that Petronas refuses to pay the state’s oil sales tax should cause the DAP to question the federal government.
“Resorting to the loan from DBOS is a measure to ensure that Sarawak can grow unimpeded even though its financial foundation is stable and sustainable.”
He said that this is because Sarawak did not know how much cooperation and assistance to expect from the federal government its continued development.
So Tiong asked whether Dr Ting can assure Sarawak that the federal government could return what it has taken from Sarawak.
“He should instead be listening to complaints against the PH government for its lack of understanding and experience in managing the country.
“Can he really say that the PH government is a beacon of transparency in its plans and financial decision-making?” he asked.
He reminded that Tiong as a medical practitioner of many years surely knows that he must understand the patient’s actual condition before performing any surgery.
“Yet, he does not apply the same standard to understanding the condition of the state’s economy before criticising the measures used by the state government.
“Instead, like his compatriots, he prefers to ride on the latest developments in the state in order to mislead the people to promote his party for the next election,” he said.
