Security, growth and welfare

Kota Kinabalu: Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has outlined three thrusts that must be emphasised for Sabah within the next five years which he believed can be achieved with the existing cordial relationship between the Federal and State Government under Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman.

The first thrust was to ensure security, sovereignty and peace in Sabah. "The Lahad Datu incident must not be forgotten. We take proactive steps to prepare sufficient security personnel as well as our intelligence efficiency.

"We must place the right technology and in strategic places as well as new army camps to ensure people exposed to the threats will be able to sleep tightly at night," said the Prime Minister.

Speaking at the breaking of fast ceremony here, which was also his first official visit to Sabah after the 13th General Election, Najib said the Government through Esscom was also formulating a model for the resettlement of all coastal settlements in Sabah.

The second and third thrusts are to stimulate development in Sabah as well as ensure the people's welfare.
"We must ensure not only we bring progress but also take into consideration the people's welfare," he said.

Najib said all these are to be done with 1Malaysia as the pillar so that all the ethnic groups in Sabah would be able to feel development under the Barisan Nasional (BN).

"We will also continue with the 1Malaysia products namely Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia, 1Malaysia Clinic, so that it is not a mere rhetoric but for the people to really feel the benefit," he said.

The Prime Minister said since it was the first time that he had come to Sabah after the General Election, he wanted to express his gratitude to all Sabahans who continued to support the BN.

"The achievement of BN in Sabah I must say can be considered as excellent and we still able to maintain Sabah in BN's hand," he said, adding this was despite some people who said "Sabah dah hilang" (Sabah is lost).

In fact, he said Sabah BN under the leadership of Datuk Seri Musa Aman had been the major contributor - if not the biggest for BN - by winning 22 of the 25 available parliament seats.

He said it was proven that Sabahans would not be easily influenced by the slogan of Ubah (change) or Ini Kali Lah (this is the time).

"For Sabahans they said changes can be done by the BN É what is important is the outcome not the process," he said, adding that changing does not promise the outcome that they wanted.

"Sabahans knew that what is important is not the slogan but who can change the people's lives.

"It's not about changing the Government but about changing the lives of the people and the BN can do it," he said.

Towards this end, he said the BN government must prove that it can deliver all that it promised during the election.

"To show that we are not only chanting slogans and empty promises but create real change."

Najib said as the Prime Minister, he gave his commitment that he would assist Sabah to progress and enjoy development at par with the states in Semenanjung Malaysia.

He said providing development to Sabah would also take time because of its size and the fact that the State achieved independence through Malaysia a little bit later than Peninsular Malaysia.

"Sabah have to play catch up. We need to give attention including all the allocations within the Federal's capability to provide development to Sabah," he said.

Earlier, Najib was given a pleasant surprise when Musa and other state leaders presented him with a cake to celebrate his 60th birthday.

(Source: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my)