BINTULU, April 9 (Bernama) -- Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the Barisan Nasional (BN) government has spent tens of billions of ringgit to eradicate poverty in Sarawak compared with a mere RM1 billion promised by the opposition pact in their manifesto in the Sarawak state election campaign.
The Deputy Prime Minister subsequently challenged the opposition parties to provide a fund of RM10 billion to eradicate poverty in Sarawak.
He said the BN government had reduced poverty in Sarawak to merely three per cent currently compared with 60 to 70 per cent 20 years ago.
"At a glance, the offer (by the opposition) is impressive, if they are truly serious, allocate RM10 billion because we have given tens of billions...more than that," he told reporters after a 30-minute walkabout at the Bintulu Main Market, here today.
He said the establishment of the RM1 billion Poverty Eradication Fund to look after poor families in the manifesto of the Pakatan Rakyat (Opposition Pact) was merely a promise made to win the support of the voters in Sarawak and it could actually not be implemented as was the case in Selangor which is under the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) administration.
Muhyiddin, who is also the Education Minister, said the 'one-off' payment of RM200 to every primary school pupil entering year one was also lower compared with the free education given by the BN government to primary and secondary school students which cost about RM5,000 each.
"We not only implement...we are committed to development programmes and when we compare the two manifestos, we can see what they (the opposition) are championing and what we (BN) are fighting for. The people should be more sensitive, we don't do anything indiscriminately but we do things based on the policy of continuous development," he said.
On the slogan "change" propagated by the opposition, Muhyiddin said the government had already carried out transformation under its administration which carried a better meaning than "change".
He said the government had not only carried out transformation in politics, but also in terms of administration style in the government and economy.
"(Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul) Taib (Mahmud) has provided a potential successor... he has whispered to me...(to) Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) probably in a more clear manner...so, this means that there will be a young leader with more credibility...this is more important, if we consider in terms of duration, (DAP advisor Lim) Kit Siang, (DAP chairman) Karpal Singh, (Kelantan Menteri Besar) Datuk Seri Nik Aziz (Nik Mat) have been around longer," he said.
Commenting on the support of the Chinese, Muhyiddin advised the Chinese voters to ensure that they had representatives in the BN government at the state level.
"Looking at the trend of support in several by-elections previously, there has been an increase in the support of Chinese voters for the BN," he said.
On the campaign, Muhyidin said the BN would work harder in the election this time and would not take lightly the challenge posed by the opposition.
He said the voters were also reminded not to be easily influenced by the opposition and independent candidates who claimed that they had received BN support at the federal level.
"They don't use the (BN) scale symbol, they use their own symbol. How can we say that they support the BN. This is all a lie," he said.
MySinchew 2011.04.09The Deputy Prime Minister subsequently challenged the opposition parties to provide a fund of RM10 billion to eradicate poverty in Sarawak.
He said the BN government had reduced poverty in Sarawak to merely three per cent currently compared with 60 to 70 per cent 20 years ago.
"At a glance, the offer (by the opposition) is impressive, if they are truly serious, allocate RM10 billion because we have given tens of billions...more than that," he told reporters after a 30-minute walkabout at the Bintulu Main Market, here today.
He said the establishment of the RM1 billion Poverty Eradication Fund to look after poor families in the manifesto of the Pakatan Rakyat (Opposition Pact) was merely a promise made to win the support of the voters in Sarawak and it could actually not be implemented as was the case in Selangor which is under the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) administration.
Muhyiddin, who is also the Education Minister, said the 'one-off' payment of RM200 to every primary school pupil entering year one was also lower compared with the free education given by the BN government to primary and secondary school students which cost about RM5,000 each.
"We not only implement...we are committed to development programmes and when we compare the two manifestos, we can see what they (the opposition) are championing and what we (BN) are fighting for. The people should be more sensitive, we don't do anything indiscriminately but we do things based on the policy of continuous development," he said.
On the slogan "change" propagated by the opposition, Muhyiddin said the government had already carried out transformation under its administration which carried a better meaning than "change".
He said the government had not only carried out transformation in politics, but also in terms of administration style in the government and economy.
"(Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul) Taib (Mahmud) has provided a potential successor... he has whispered to me...(to) Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) probably in a more clear manner...so, this means that there will be a young leader with more credibility...this is more important, if we consider in terms of duration, (DAP advisor Lim) Kit Siang, (DAP chairman) Karpal Singh, (Kelantan Menteri Besar) Datuk Seri Nik Aziz (Nik Mat) have been around longer," he said.
Commenting on the support of the Chinese, Muhyiddin advised the Chinese voters to ensure that they had representatives in the BN government at the state level.
"Looking at the trend of support in several by-elections previously, there has been an increase in the support of Chinese voters for the BN," he said.
On the campaign, Muhyidin said the BN would work harder in the election this time and would not take lightly the challenge posed by the opposition.
He said the voters were also reminded not to be easily influenced by the opposition and independent candidates who claimed that they had received BN support at the federal level.
"They don't use the (BN) scale symbol, they use their own symbol. How can we say that they support the BN. This is all a lie," he said.
