SERIAN: Human Resources Minister, Serian MP Datuk Seri Richard Riot Jaem, announced a grant of RM30,000 to the village security committee, including the village’s women bureau and the surau committee.
He made the announcement at a ‘Leader Meets the People’ programme held at Kampung Hilir here Saturday night.
In his address at the event, the minister wanted to prove his critics wrong for accusing him of spending most of his time in Putrajaya.
Riot said either that his critics were not aware of what he had been doing or they were just out to discredit him.
“Whatever their reason for saying I have not ‘turun padang’, I will prove to them that they are badly wrong,” he said at the event.
Riot said despite his busy schedule as a member of the Federal Cabinet, he hardly ever failed to visit the villages on weekends.
He said besides these weekly visits, he also had officers running his minister’s office and party office, both of which are located right at the Serian town centre, from Mondays to Fridays.
“My detractors think I have failed to do what I should do as an MP, well, one thing for sure is I am not like them.
“They only go to the ground when they feel elections are around the corner, and that’s not my style.
“I go to the ground no matter it’s an election year or not. I have been with the people all 26 years of being their MP,” said Riot who is on his sixth term as Serian MP.
He reiterated his readiness to defend Serian in the coming 14th General Election, saying he needed more time to realise his vision for Serian Division, which is to turn it into a technical vocational hub.
He said the Federal Government had approved the setting up in Serian of a technical college, an industrial training centre and a hospital dedicated to serve workers of industries.
Riot also thanked the Malay community for their undivided support for him at the polls, saying the oppositions were heavily trounced in all Malay areas in past elections.
He said he was confident that he still commanded their support come GE14.
Among those present at the event were the political secretary to the Human Resources Minister Major (rtd) Datuk Peter Runin and several representatives of government department heads.
