Najib baits Sabah voters with big plans

The prime minister who is also the BN chairman urged the people of Sabah to continue their support for BN to ensure continuity in the development of Sabah.

UPDATED

KUNDASANG: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said the federal government has major plans for the people of Sabah if Barisan Nasional (BN) was given the mandate once again.

If given BN is given the mandate in the coming general election (GE), the federal and state government will work even harder to develop Sabah which has a vast potential.

“I am happy to see the reception and support from the people of Sabah towards Barisan Nasional,” he said in his speech during a walkabout session in Kundasang town here.

Najib was accompanied by Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman, Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan and state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun.

The prime minister who is also the BN chairman urged the people of Sabah to continue their support for BN to ensure continuity in the development of Sabah.

In the last election (2008), Sabah BN almost made a clean sweep of all the 25 Parliament and 60 state assembly seats.

The only seats that fell to the opposition, namely DAP, were the Kota Kinabalu parliamentary seat and Sri Tanjung (Tawau) state assembly seat.

Speaking of his visit to Kundasang, Najib described the serenity of Kundasang, situated at the foot of Mount Kinabalu, as God’s blessing and gift to nature and environment.

“Kundasang is a blessed place and a gift from nature. Plant any type of crop and it grows well. There is a delectable and refreshing choice of fresh greens and exotic fruits which grow here and farmers can earn a good income if they put in extra effort,” he said.

Najib is special
People from all walks of life from Kundasang and its surrounding areas like Ranau, made a bee-line to meet the Prime Minister in person, clamouring over each other to shake his hands.

Wasli Kandung, 74, a farmer from Kampong Cinta Mata said he was happy to have met a leader whom he had adored.

“I have never met a prime minister in person all these years. I have only seen them on television. All our prime minister’s were good but Najib is special because he likes to go down and help the people, not just make empty promises,” he said.

“I hope he will continue to rule the country until he is 70.”

Sagin Belinsai, 72, from Kampong Kouluan near here said he got up at 5.30am to make sure he would not miss an opportunity to see the prime minister in person.

Malaysia is fortunate to have a prime minister who has the peoples’ welfare and interest at heart and who always went down to the ground to meet the people, said Sagin.

Meanwhile, at 7am this morning, Najib was at the Mount Kinabalu Park here to flag off participants of the 26th Mount Kinabalu International Climbathon.

About 700 participants from 28 countries took part in the climbathon that featured the men’s and women’s open category plus the men’s and women’s veteran categories.

RM2.98b for Sabah next year
In KUDAT, Najib said the federal government will allocate RM2.98 billion to carry out various development projects in Sabah next year.

He said among the projects were for  boosting electricity supply (RM400 million), clean water supply (RM150 million) and building roads to connect rural areas (RM31.3 million).

Najib said the Agropolitan Kota Belud-Pitas project would also be developed with an allocation of RM66 million besides public housing projects in Putatan and Sandakan (RM65 million).

“Among the other projects are a water treatment plant in Semporna (RM30 million), Tambunan Community College and Teachers Training Institute, Tuaran Campus (RM32 million) and numerous health projects,” he said before a gathering  of more than 50,000 people who had turned up for the programme “Promises Fulfilled” event at the Kudat Sports Complex, here.

He said the government had also allocated RM3.06 million for the construction of shophouses in Karakit, Pulau Banggi, RM3.5 million for public housing in Jalan Apa, Kudat (RM3.5 million).

He also announced that facilities at the Kudat Hospital would be upgraded.

The PM also said the government would be distributing 1Malaysia People’s Aid (BR1M) to 408,927 households in Sabah including 20,399 in Kudat, not including the singles group aged 21 years and above earning less than RM2,000 a month.

“Regardless whether the general election is held this year or next year, this promise will definitely be met besides the building of a 1Malaysia Clinic in Kudat and the Kudat Maju Shopping Centre,” he said, while also suggesting that the Employees Provident Fund office be retained in Kudat.

He said all the projects in question were implemented as an ongoing effort to prosper and develop Sabah.

Najib not worried
Last night in Ranau, Najib said that he was not worried about the future of BN in Ranau
as he was confident that the people in the parliamentary constituency would continue giving their undivided support to BN in the next general election.

“I know I can sleep peacefully tonight, not because of the cool breeze, but because of the strong support from the people here, ” he said at the leader-meets-people event at the Kinabalu National Park here.

Najib also concurred with Karanaan and Paginatan state assemblymen Masidi Manjun’s and Ewon Ebin’s statements that the people of Ranau sincerely supported the BN.

“If the election were to be held tomorrow, BN would surely win because the support of the people here is as high as Mount Kinabalu,” Najib said.

Earlier, the prime minister also attended a closed-door meeting with BN Sabah leaders.

- Bernama