Umno-BN can't keep promises due to 'corrupt nature'

By Luke Rintod

KOTA KINABALU: DAP has blamed Umno-Barisan Nasional's 'corrupt nature' for the regime's inability to meet promises it had made to Sabahans in 1994 and 2007.

Its national disciplinary committee chairman, Tan Kok Wai, said it is this inherent characteristic that had led the Umno-led BN to plunder Sabah's resources.

Tan, who is also MP for Cheras, recalled that in the 1994 general election, BN in its manifesto pledged that there would be zero poverty in Sabah by the year 2000, but today, 10 years later poverty still plagues the state.

"In 2007, the BN state chief minister again promised Sabahans that poverty would be eradicated by the year 2010 and that there would be no more hardcore poor in the state by 2009, but today Sabahans remain the poorest in Malaysia.

"If Sabahans allow BN to continue ruling this country, Sabah will forever be the poorest for the next 100 years," he said alluding the recent World Bank Report which classified Sabah as the poorest state in the country and unlikely to improve if current policies remain.

Tan was officiating the party's one-day state convention here over the weekend which was attended by about 100 grassroot party leaders.

He said Sabah was poor beacuse of BN's endless list of misappropriations.

"47 years since 1963, Sabah has been (mostly) under BN rule, but only political parties and BN leaders have become rich, while the people of Sabah are the poorest in the country. Why? This is a shame," he said.

Dipping FDI

Drawing comparisons, Tan said Malaysia continued to slip far behind other countries like South Korea and Singapore because of its corrupt leadership promoted under the BN's rule.

"In 1957, Malaysia's per capita income was US$380 while South Korea's was only US$260. But today South Korea's per capita income is RM25,300 while Malaysia's is only about RM6,700.

"And, now for the first time, the GDP of Malaysia is smaller than the GDP of Singapore, which means Singapore with its small population of 4.8 million and without natural resources now has a bigger economy than Malaysia with a population of 28 million with rich resources..." he said.

On top of that, he said, in 2009, according to the World Bank, the FDI in Malaysia had dropped to a mere USD1.4 billion while that of tiny Singapore was at USD14 billion, 10 times bigger than ours.

All this, he argued, pointed to BN's failed and corrupted way in managing the country, and that the people especially in Sabah must take stock of this facts when they vote in the coming general election.

Kok Wai also made a clarion call to Sabah DAP leadership to preserve unity in its ranks-and-file and to work diligently for change.

"Without unity and teamwork, an organisation cannot succeed... I hope the new incoming state committee would be a shining example for the people here. This is the clarion call from the party," he said. - FMT