Press Statement by Parliamentary Opposition Leader, DAP Secretary-General and MP for Tanjung, Lim Kit Slang, on his arrival at the Kota Kinabalu Airport en route to Sandakan on Tuesday, February 15, 1994 at 12 noon
Barisan Nasional is being very irresponsible in making promises in the Sabah general election which its leaders must know are impossible to fulfil
The Barisan Nasional is being very irresponsible in making promises in the Sabah general election which its leaders must know are impossible to fulfil.
I will be in Sabah to help the Sabah DAP campaign in Sandakan where the Sabah DAP has fielded two candidates, namely Sdr. Fung Ket Wing for the Tanjong Papat and Sdr. Ang Lian Hai for the Elopura state constituencies.
During my stay in Sabah, I will talk about the five impossible election promises which the Barisan Nasional has made in the Sabah state general elections, and why it is important for the people of Sabah that the Sabah DAP make a breakthrough in the state general elections by sending Sdr. Fung Ket Wing and Sdr. Ang Lian Hai into the Sabah stats assembly.
For a start, I will deal with the first impossible election promise which the Barisan Nasional has made in Sabah.
The Barisan Nasional has promised that if it is elected to form the Sabah State Government on February 18 and 19, it would abolish poverty in Sabah from the present high level of 33 per cent to zero in six years by the year 2,000. In the last few days, Sabah Barisan Nasional leaders from the various component parties have been competing with each other to claim that this promise is possible and achievable although they do not know how it could be done.
This is a ridiculous pledge, even going by the statis¬tics which had been provided by the Barisan Nasional Federal Government itself over the years.
For instance, the Federal Government’s poverty-eradication objectives for 1991-2000 was set out in the Second Outline Perspective Plan (GPP) which was presented by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, in Parliament in June 1991
Under the Second OPP and the National Development Policy, the incidence of poverty in Sabah would be reduced to 20 per cent by the year 2,000,
Now, overnight, without any expert study, the Barisan Nasional has promised that poverty in Sabah would be completely abolished in six years’ time in 2,000 if the Barisan Nasional is voted to form the Sabah State Government this weekend.
Is this possible?
The Barisan Nasional Federal Government has itself claimed that it had taken 20 years under the New Economic Policy to reduce the proportion of households living below the poverty line in Peninsular Malaysia from 49.3 per cent in 1970 to about, 15 per cent in 1990.
Can the Barisan Nasional reduce the present 33 per cent, incidence of poverty in Sabah to zero level in six years in the year 2,000, when it had takan 20 years to reduce 49.3 per cent incidence of poverty in 1970 to 15 per cent in 1990?
Under the Second OPP, the incidence of poverty in Peninsular Malaysia would be reduced from 15 per cent in 1990 to 5.3 per cent by the year 2,000.
Under the Second OPP, the incidence of poverty in Sabah will be reduced from 34.3 per cent in 1990 to 20 per cent in 2,000; while for Sarawak, the incidence of poverty would be reduced from 21 per cent to 12.7 per cent, for the same period.
Anwar should explain whether the Barisan Nasional is really promising to give Sabah better treatment than all the other Barisan-ccntrolled states, as Sabah would be the only state to have abolished poverty by the year 2,000
The Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, should explain whether the Barisan Nasional is really promising that if the Barisan Nasional is elected to form the next State Government in Sabah, Sabah would be given even better treatment than all the other states in Malaysia, including Sarawak, which have always supported the Barisan Nasional?
This is because Sabah would be the only state where poverty would be completely abolished in 2,000, as under the National Development Plan 1991-2000, all the other states would still have poverty by the year 2,000 ranging to as high as 12.7 Per cent in Sarawak and even higher in some Peninsular states like Kedah. For the whole of Malaysia, the incidence of poverty would be 7.2 per cent.
If this is the case, then it is time that all the other states in Malaysia which had all along supported the Barisan Nasional reject the Barisan Nasional in the next general elections, so that they could also get special treatment from the Federal Government for a change.