Barisan Nasional all out to fulfil promise to develop rural Sarawak, says Najib

PAKAN: Barisan Nasional will fulfil its promise to bring more development to the state following the “strongest” support that it received from the people in the last 13th general election.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, speaking to a crowd of 6,000 during his Gawai Dayak call to Rumah Panjai George Nanga Nansang yesterday, said the BN would not make empty promises like the Opposition which only gave lip-service.

He said with the mandate from the people, the government’s transformation programme could be continued.
“We will now march on to become an industrialised nation by 2020. This mandate also shows that the BN agenda is better than the Opposition’s,” he added.

Najib noted that the people of the state, especially the Dayaks, were not easily misled by the Opposition during the elections, saying they knew who could look after their future.

“So because of this, today I want to assure you that in time to come, and according to our ability, we will intensify the development agenda for rural areas in Sarawak so that areas still left behind in terms of basic amenities will be looked into,” he assured.

Najib stressed that he more than agreed with what SPDP president Tan Sri Mawan Ikom that areas under SPDP or under PRS needed more development funds.

He assured that BN would seriously look into their requests, saying Federal BN was able to accommodate such requests as the ruling coalition was formed through a power sharing concept with the state BN and that both had come together to help those in need.

It was also for this reason that he had made regular visits to the state, he added.

The Prime Minister said he was happy with the state BN performance in the elections “especially the candidates who stood in the rural seats”.

“SPDP won four seats. Congratula-tions to the party and its president.

“PRS has also won all its six seats. It is for this reason that we can go ahead with the development agenda for the rural areas,” Najib said.

On his Gawai Dayak visit, he said he was very happy to have come as the people of Rumah George, and especially the Dayaks, have shown that they were the BN’s “strongest supporters”.

”Because of this, in conjunction with Hari Gawai, on behalf of the BN, allow me to extend our deepest appreciation to you all as you have given your trust to BN. This allows us to form the Federal Government again,” he said.

Mawan in his speech earlier said his party would continue to support the BN even though none of its elected representative was given any portfolio in the Federal Cabinet.

“We in SPDP give our fullest support to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and are confident that they will always show their concern for SPDP and the Dayak community and all the other communities as well,” he added.

Mawan also thanked Najib for approving an allocation of RM2mil for Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU) to carry out its education and social development agenda.

(Source: The Star Online)