Raw deal for the poor in Sabah

The Sabah government delivers on the promise to give houses to the poor but fails to give them water and electricty.

TONGOD: The Umno-led Sabah government has been accused of providing the state’s poor with shoddily built houses minus the essential utilities.

Citing the houses in Kinabatangan, State Reform Party (STAR) community leader James Ait said the government was being “dangerously careless” in the construction of these houses just because the recipients were impoverishd.

“Look for yourself the shoddy workmanship in this government-funded housing project for the poor.

“Eleven poor families have taken possession of their new homes in Kampung Pelangi. They are getting a raw deal, “Ait said.

Ait, who brought along Kinabatangan STAR division head, Cyril Palantis, and Sukau STAR coordinator, Juhori Paritai, on a visit to the kampung on April 8, found out that the 11 houses in the PPRT (public housing project) had been handed over to their occupants without providing electricity or piped water.

“The poor families are forced to use dirty rainwater for their daily chores such as washing clothes and cleaning cooking utensils and so on. We believe this is the case in other places in Sabah too,” Ait said.

The families and their relatives are nevertheless the last to complain and are thankful for the houses built for them.

“But this does not mean that they are not hoping the authorities will provide them with basic necessities like water and electricity.

“A local leader, Asmat Majud, told us that the families are very grateful for the houses but the state government must look into their plight more compassionately and not just help them half-heartedly like this,” Ait said.

He said it is most deplorable and irresponsible for government leaders to carry out such programmes without considering the plight of the recipients.

“It is even more irresponsible when we contrast it with the huge amount in taxes collected by the federal (government) from Sabah. Last year, it was estimated that RM22.7 billion was collected from Sabah alone.

“There is so much money collected from Sabah via Petronas and yet they do this to these poor people,” said Ait