Najib much better than Anwar — Nanta

KAPIT: Pakatan Rakyat leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim failed miserably during his tenure as deputy prime minister, minister of finance and minister of education, and thus voters should not support Pakatan in the 13th general election.

Kapit incumbent Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi, who said this, advised the people in Kapit not to be hoodwinked by locals singing praises of Anwar and the opposition in blogs and Facebook.

“These people claimed that Anwar is better than Najib (Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) and that there had been no development in Kapit.

“From what I know, these critics are staying outside Kapit and West Malaysia and thus unaware of what is happening in Kapit even though they claim to be from Kapit.”

Speaking at the Sarawak Rivers’ Board River Safety and Environmental Awareness Programme in Rumah Panjai Nanga Sengkeranji in Sungai Menuan on Saturday, Nanta recalled that Anwar had visited Kapit in 1995 but did not bring any goodies.

“Anwar Ibrahim was once the most powerful man in the country in his capacity as deputy prime minister and minister of finance. He visited Kapit in 1995 but turned a deaf ear to requests for the construction of an access road from Kapit/Song/Sibu.

“Instead, he merely announced a grant of RM15,000 to repair Jalan Bukit Goram which leads to Rumah Bundong (formerly Rumah Enggin).”

Nanta added that Anwar had also done little during his tenure as minister of education.

“He did little for the welfare of teachers and schools. However, under Najib, many schools now have 24-hour electricity supply while teachers and non-teaching staff serving in the rural areas enjoy better
incentives

“Daily food allocation for pupils had also been increased from RM3 during Anwar’s time to more than RM11 now.”

Nanta said there was no basis for anyone to say that Anwar would be better than Najib. Voters should rally behind the prime minister in the May 5 polls to enjoy greater fruits of development from his transformation programmes.

Kapit had benefitted much under his rule in the last four years.

Examples of projects secured under Najib’s administration included 52KM of federal funded roads, RM443 million federal allocations for development projects such as rural electrification supply (RES), water supply, and water treatment plant extension and housing aids.

“And for Song district there was an allocation of RM19.8 million for ‘Projek Bantuan Rumah’ (PBR) over the past four years.”

In conjunction with the SRB awareness programme, various activities were held, including a river safety talk, a gotong royong by people from seven longhouses to clear Sungai Menuan of debris, talks by SRB, Sarawak Natural Resources and Environmental Board (NREB), Kapit District Council and the Welfare Department, health screening for blood pressure and glucose level and dental services.

(Source: The Borneo Post)