GE13: Barisan's big wins in Sarawak due to improvement in infrastructure say BN leaders

KUCHING: The steady improvement of basic infrastructure helped Barisan Nasional win big in Sarawak's rural areas.

"I think the results show that rural voters have renewed their belief in Barisan to deliver for them infrastructure," Betong MP Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas said last night.

He beat PKR's Cecilia Siti by a large margin of 4,589 votes. "We have achieved about 80% of our plans for (basic necessity coverage in) Betong. The next stage, the most critical stage, is to uplift rural standards of living,"

He said education improvements would be given priority, and also projects that help locals generate higher income.

Asked about the Opposition's charges that Barisan had neglected rural voters, Douglas replied: "It's all propaganda that was not believed by the voters. Like I said, the results show rural voters have reaffirmed their support of Barisan. Rural voters in Sarawak saw a lot of infra upgrades in the last two years especially."

Kapit MP, Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi, agreed. "People in rural areas still care the most about bread and butter issues," Nanta said.

The third term MP had won his first two stints in public office uncontested. "This time we really had to work. The Opposition brought some issues. People want development."

(Source: The Star Online)

Give the mandate to BN for promises kept

KUCHING: For promises kept, if not more in the wave of benefits rolled out, the people have been reminded to vote for the Barisan Nasional (BN) government come polling day on May 5.

Welfare, Women and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah, who said this, pointed out that only BN government is sympathetic with the plight of the needy and ever ready to lend help and support by distributing BR1M, welfare aids for the needy, setting up of 1Malaysia shops (KR1M) and 1Malaysia clinics.

For example, the daily necessities like cooking oil, sugar and rice are government-subsidised to lessen the burden of the people.

“Give the mandate to the BN government to lead the people, with over two thirds seat in the Parliament. All the aid received by the people are the results from the leadership of our Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak,” said Fatimah at the Kar1sma aid presentation at Kampung Semariang Batu multipurpose hall on Monday.

She hoped that the people will not forget the aid given by the BN government and continue to support BN, as they are very lucky to receive these benefits.

She added that the assistance given proved how much the BN government goes to the ground and reach out to the needy to help them.

Najib deserves big mandate in 13th GE — Awg Tengah

WELCOME TO KUCHING: Second Minister for Resource Planning and Environment Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan welcomes South Korea Dongbu Group president Myung Oh (left) during a courtesy call at his office at Wisma Sumber Alam in Kuching Saturday.

KUCHING: It is imperative that Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak be given a bigger mandate in the 13th general election to enable him to continue leading Malaysia and ensure continuity in his transformation and development programmes.

Second Minister for Resource Planning and Environment Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said since Najib became the prime minister, Sarawak had received higher allocations for development.

“In the 1960s, Sarawak only had about 800km of roads, and by 2008 it increased to 18,000km due to the excellent state-federal relationships,” he said in a press statement.  “And for the 2013-2016 development budget, Sarawak was given RM2.5 billion for infrastructure alone.”