Adenan: The opposition is not our enemy

It is not wrong to give them an opportunity to speak or listen to their views, says the chief minister.

KUCHING: Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem said the opposition should not be looked upon as an enemy because they are also Malaysian citizens who are loyal to the country.

Adenan said he had no problems with the opposition in the state and was always ready to sit down and discuss issues.

“Therefore, it is not wrong to give them an opportunity to speak or listen to their views,” he said when appearing on a programme “Bersama Ketua Menteri Sarawak” at Auditorium P. Ramlee, RTM, which was aired on TV1, here last night.

The interview conducted by Syed Munawwar was in conjunction with Adenan’s one year in office as the chief minister.

Adenan feels he would require at least one more term (five years) to carry out development programmes and implement policies adopted since he took over the helm on February 28, last year.

Adenan said policies that he had introduced since becoming the chief minister were focused to bridge the gap between urban and rural development.

“I feel there is enough development in urban areas because there are enough facilities available in the cities but rural areas still lack such facilities.

“That is why the focus is on developing infrastructure like roads, water supply and electricity in rural areas to provide an opportunity for economic development.

“We must provide opportunities for rural folks to at least raise their lifestyle to the middle class income group but we have to realise that it can take time.

However, such efforts have been implemented with success in a number of countries like Australia and New Zealand,” he said.

Asked if the people of Sarawak were happy with his style of leadership, Adenan said: “I do not want to pretend, what you see is what the people get.”

On another question as to how he was going to capture the support of the Chinese community in Sarawak and to accept his leadership, Adenan said the government needs to recognise private Chinese schools in the state.

Adenan said the federal government should also provide financial aid to Chinese schools and the state government should increase the funds provided for Chinese schools.

Last year, the state government channelled RM3 million to Chinese schools in the state and Adenan pledged to increase the figure this year.

As for the call by the Dayak community in the state to replace the ‘others’ (lain-lain) in official forms to ‘Dayak’, the chief minister said he had already asked the Prime Minister to replace the ‘others’ to ‘Bumiputera Iban, Bumiutera Bidayuh and Bumiputera Orang Ulu”.

However, he agreed with the request by non-governmental organisations (NGO) who want the ‘Others’ to be replaced with “Dayak”.

Adenan also requested for more teachers to be given opportunities to enter training colleges and later sent back to Sarawak to be placed throughout the state.

“Teachers from Sarawak must be posted to Sarawak because they have better knowledge of Sarawak. Only if there are not enough teachers in Sarawak, should teachers from the mainland be posted,” he said.

– BERNAMA