Rehab centre not in Ipoh Barat - Kula tells Najib

Following insinuations of constituency favouritism, Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran has highlighted a geographical error in former prime minister Najib Razak’s criticism.

Yesterday, Najib questioned why an RM500 million rehabilitation centre project had been planned for Kulasegaran’s constituency during the latter’s tenure as human resources minister.

Kulasegaran pointed out that the project was not in his constituency.

“The place suggested is not my Ipoh Barat constituency but in Meru, which comes under the Tambun parliamentary constituency,” he said in a statement this afternoon.

Bersatu’s Ahmad Faizal Azumu is Tambun MP. He is also the Perak menteri besar.

Najib’s comments were in response to former primary industries minister Teresa Kok, who recently questioned the Malaysia Rubber Board’s (MRB) RM100 million Rubber Technology Centre project in Jerantut.

MRB chairperson is Umno’s Jerantut MP Ahmad Nazlan Idris.

Kulasegaran defended the rehabilitation centre proposal today and contrasted it to MRB’s rubber technology centre project.

For one, he said the rehabilitation centre was a “well studied” proposal that aimed to treat Socso contributors who had suffered from accidents while at work.

To be fitted with “state of the art” technology, the Ipoh centre was supposed to complement the existing facility in Malacca.

“The rehabilitation centre was proposed for the betterment Sosco contributors in the long term just like the one in Malacca which has been proven as a vital facility for folks from the south.

“Socso contributors in the north will patronise the centre in Ipoh while those in the south can opt for the one in Malacca,” he said.

Najib had also questioned why the human resources ministry’s People’s Service Centre programme was launched in Ipoh Barat.

In response, Kulasegaran said the programme was set to be expanded nationwide following its launch in his constituency.

“This idea is not just for Ipoh but for all that reside nationwide so that people and government-linked institutions can work closely to resolve issues,” he explained.

Unlike the MRB project, he said his rehabilitation centre and the People’s Service Centre proposals were aimed at garnering “greater social returns”.

“There is a difference between coming out with a project just after a month of being appointed as chairperson of a government-linked company where resources could be better used to protect jobs and businesses and a social project,” Kulasegaran added.

Previously, his DAP colleague Kok wondered how Nazlan had managed to get approval for a brand-new project shortly after his MRB appointment.

Under the former Pakatan Harapan government, she claimed that a project that size would have taken more than a year to receive all the necessary approvals. - Mkini