#PrkBalingian: Muhyiddin denies BN irresponsible, uncaring

MUKAH: The allegation by Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) de-facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that Barisan Nasional (BN) is an irresponsible government that did not care for its people, especially the needy, is baseless.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin made this point when launching the Homestay at Tanjung Pedada yesterday.

He said Anwar, during his campaigning in Balingian recently, accused the BN government of being irresponsible and abandoning the needy.

“Sarawak has developed for the past 40 years. There are many jobs available, projects, foreign investments and so forth.

“What he said that we are an irresponsible government is a false accusation – it is not right, and it is baseless,” he said.

He said the allegation that the BN did not care about the livelihood of the people was also not true.

“Although there were some price hikes in basic necessities, the government always ensured the cost of living was controlled,” he said.

He said the government had carried out initiatives like subsidies, which included health, education, groceries and many others. It spent about RM42 billion every year on such subsidies and almost the same amount on development projects in the country.

He said although the government had reduced the amount of subsidies, it was making efforts to collect money to give back to the people.

“We gave them back through BR1M which the government is giving to some seven million people nationwide,” he said, adding that about RM3 billion had been allocated for BR1M alone.

He said people in Sarawak and Sabah had to pay higher cost for some basic necessities due to transportation fees and to ease that, the government every year spent over RM300 million in transportation subsidies for Sabah and Sarawak.

Another initiative, he said, was the Homestay programme for the community to be involved in the tourism industry.

“We want people to live a good life with good income, and homestay proved that it worked,” he said, adding that homestay is getting popular over the years and Malaysia had been recognised as a tourist attraction.

“To say that BN government is a dictator and irresponsible is not true,” he reiterated.

On the recent concluded Kajang by-election, he said PKR in Kajang was getting weaker as it won the Kajang seat with a reduced majority.

Also present at the event were State Tourism Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Openg, BN secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and BN candidate for Balingian, Yussibnosh Balo.