No federal aid given to Kota Kinabalu for Covid-19 pandemic, claims MP

Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin passing a vegetable aid package to a Kota Kinabalu resident here.

KOTA KINABALU: A Sabah MP today claimed the federal government has not given any assistance to Kota Kinabalu residents in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin said residents here had only received aid from the state government.

“It is important to emphasise that up to this day, as far as I know, the Perikatan Nasional central government has not distributed a single piece of aid to the people in Kota Kinabalu.

“If not for the state government, the residents of KK would not have received any aid whatsoever, whether it be face masks or vegetables,” said the Sabah DAP secretary.

Kota Kinabalu has a population of close to 570,000 according to 2019 statistics.

On April 24, Chan had alleged that the PN federal government had victimised the MPs from Warisan and Pakatan Harapan by freezing federal allocations to them.

He said this was why the state government had provided grants to 15 PH and Warisan MPs, and not to all Sabah MPs.

Chan also said it was common practice for politicians from both the ruling party and the opposition to include their own images on every aid packet.

For instance, the aid distributed from his office had the image of Shafie Apdal as the allocation had come from the Sabah chief minister.

Chan said Sandakan MP Vivian Wong, Inanam assemblyman Kenny Chua and Elopura assemblyman Calvin Chong and he had purchased vegetables to be distributed to the people in their areas.

He said it was important to assist local farmers so as to encourage them to continue farming during the Covid-19 crisis and ensure food security.

Chan hoped to purchase 15 tonnes of vegetables and distribute them to Api-Api and Likas residents by this week. Some 3,000 households would be getting 5kg of vegetables each.

Chan said yesterday he distributed food aid to 1,500 households in Taman Seputih, Taman Sheraton, Taman Seri Damai, Dah Yeh Villa, Taman Fabar, Taman Seri Rasa, Taman Sinar Baru, Taman Selesa and Taman Alpha.

Chan said he had included face masks in every vegetable packet. - FMT