Nothing to hide over irrigation funds

Umno's Abdul Rahman Dahlan says that if DAP wanted to know more about the money spent on Sabah's irrigation, all it has to do is ask.

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has nothing to hide over the millions of ringgit being spent on an irrigation system in Sabah.

Umno’s Kota Belud MP Abdul Rahman Dahlan said this in response to DAP’s constant queries on the matter, especially with the RM150 million being spent on a paddy irrigation system in his area.

“It’s not a small amount of money. RM150 million is just the first phase…The project is ongoing. Some massive infrastructure is going on in Kota Belud right now,” he told FMT.

He also added that the government would have to spend more money if it wanted to better Sabah’s irrigation system.

The end result, Abdul Rahman added, was to increase the state, and ultimately Malaysia’s rice growth yields.

Abdul Rahman also appeared fed up with DAP’s nattering on the matter, adding that it was the opposition who had pushed the government into such measures in the first place.

Citing the global rice shortage in 2008, the Umno MP said that many countries, including Malaysia suffered from a lack of rice at the time.

This episode, he added, saw the country’s rice stockpile reach dangerously low levels.

As a result, he said that Pakatan Rakyat had severely criticised the government for not being prepared in facing the shortage.

‘Ask us directly’
It was because of this, he said, that the government decided to go ahead in improving Malaysia’s food security, which included the improvement of paddy farming in places such as Kota Belud.

“I want to highlight that this is what they (the opposition) said. They were asking the government to do something about this in mid-2008, and they were criticising the government, so the government responded.

“Now they’re questioning us, why are you spending money? They just have to make up their minds,” he said.

Abdul Rahman said that if the opposition wanted to know everything about the irrigation system, and the millions of ringgit spent on it, it was more than welcome to ask.

Directing this at Sabah DAP assistant secretary Junz Wong, the Umno MP said: “What he can do is… ask one of his local assemblymen to ask this question (during the Sabah assembly sitting this month) so that the government can give the details in full.”

Abdul Rahman gave his full assurance that no detail would be left out. He even said that if Wong was still not satisfied, the DAP man could even ask for a personal meeting with the government.

“We have nothing to hide whatsoever…You want to ask questions, fine. Asking questions is one thing, don’t ask with insinuations,” he said.