Samuel
KOTA KINABALU: Warisan KK branch chief, Samuel Wong yesterday said Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah deputy president, Datuk Dr Hiew King Cheu is “irrelevant and obsolete”.
Responding to the latter’s recent criticism against the Sabah State Government, Samuel said: “The Warisan-led Sabah Government under Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal is the first Sabah government in history to make allocations in the State budget to celebrate festive occasions such as Chinese New Year, Hari Raya, Christmas, and even Mid-Autumn Celebration together will all races and ethnic groups in Sabah.
“Allow me to inform Hiew of the lesser known initiatives undertaken as well,” he said in a statement yesterday.
“Among the first few great initiatives taken by the Sabah government after coming into power was to ban the export of timber to focus on developing timber downstream and build factories to create more jobs for Sabahans.
“The State government made the policy to ensure natural resources remain in Sabah for the benefit of Sabahans. By keeping Sabah’s timber in Sabah, we are now able to build downstream industries.
“Do Sabahans not remember how timber was exported out all these decades and in the end only a handful became millionaires?” he pointed out.
“Things have slowed down due to Covid-19 pandemic. This has affected the whole world, not only Sabah. It is happening in the most developed economies like Singapore, United States, China, Hong Kong and Japan.
Hiew should check the internet and stop living like like a toad under the well,” Samuel continued.
“If Hiew is blaming Sabah’s incompetence on Warisan, he should start reading the newspapers. Sabah was one of the first decisive governments in the world to ban flights from China. It was done since Chinese New Year. Today the results are clear. We have had so many consecutive weeks with zero new cases and even if there were, it was only one or two.
“During the entire Covid-19 pandemic, the Sabah government under the leadership of the chief minister has coped so well to protect Sabahans.”
Samuel also highlighted the role of the Sabah government in recognising talents without discrimination.
“The current Chief Minister is arguably the most Sabahan Chief Minister in modern Sabah. He does not judge or discriminate you because of skin colour or religion. The proof can be seen today where the contribution of the Chinese community is recognised.
We have four full Chinese Ministers and four full Chinese Assistant Ministers. This is the most in Sabah history.
“We have also entrusted top state civil service positions to deserving and qualified Chinese Sabahans. The heads of the Lands and Survey Department and state economic planning unit are Chinese. There are also four Chinese Permanent Secretaries, the top civil servant position in any Ministry,” he said.
“The chief minister doesn’t care who you are but as long as you are capable of contributing to Sabah nation building, you will get an equal chance.
“The Sabah government also recognised the Unified Examination Certificate back in 2019, something which Hiew’s former party MCA can only dream about this till the cows come home and can only envy with saliva.
“Shafie is so Sabahans that he is the first ever Chief Minister in Sabah history to provide direct funding to build churches and infrastructure. RM1 million has already been channeled to St Theresa in Tambunan whereas another RM250,000 was spent for the 2019 Kota Kinabalu Christmas Celebration. RM100,000 was given to Majlis Gereja-Gereja Kota Belud and many other fundings and donations were channeled to the churches in the interior areas like Sipitang, Limbahau and Long Pasia. The council party president, a native from the interior areas should know,” he went on.
“I have to admit Sabahans have forgotten about Hiew King Cheu.
“When I read about his statement, I thought he was the the same frog that jumped into MCA. But I checked and found out he jumped again over to Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah. If MCA also doesn’t want you, it only proves one thing,” said Samuel.
“That proves how totally expired, irrelevant and obsolete Hiew is.
“My only vivid memory of him was that a member of the public poured coffee at him way back when he jumped to MCA. Other than that, I can’t remember much about him. He should save himself the embarassment and retire quietly and peacefully,” concluded Samuel.