No reason to change govt: Musa
Published on: Thursday, April 26, 2018
Kota Kinabalu: Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman reminded Malaysians who will be exercising their voting rights on May 9 that changing the Government simply for the sake of change will not necessarily guarantee them any benefit.He said the state Barisan Nasional government would never claim it is perfect but it cannot be denied that it has a proven track record of fulfilling its promises and has so much more to fight for in the interest of the people.He said improvements in the lives of the people make a mockery of accusations that the State Government had caused Sabah to become backward.ADVERTISEMENT "Certain parties claim that Sabah used to be a rich state but is now poor. It used to be developed but now backward. A fact or a lie, true or false, let us look at some important indicators."The record speaks for itself," he said when launching Sabah BN manifesto, Wednesday night, in the presence of more than 10,000 people.He stressed that the manifesto is not merely an election exercise or promise that the government formulated to gain popularity but one that spells out its determination and commitment to implement what has been promised. He said, in fact, some of them have begun to be implemented, as opposed to that of the opposition's.ADVERTISEMENT "Theirs is only a promise on paper. Only an empty promise. When their leaders were in power for so long, as a Prime Minister and as a senior federal minister, what have they done to us in Sabah?" "Certain parties in the State have been shouting the "Sabah Ubah" (Change Sabah) slogan yet they fail to provide us what their plans are and what is their agenda for the people, except wanting to be in power.
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"Do not change for the sake of change. Change does not guarantee good benefits. Some changes can cause (a country) to collapse, and because of change a country can turn into ashes," he said.Setting the record straight, Musa said in the period of 30 years from the 1970s to 2000, the state's income rose to RM1 billion to become 1,700 million in 2004. But State Government managed to add to the state's revenue up to three times more at RM3 billion to 4,000 million to date, thanks to a stable BN government over the past 15 years.Secondly, he said, Sabah's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose from RM59.5 billion in 2011 to 73.8 billion in 2016."Our economy today is at fifth position compared with other states. But we won't stop here. Our goal is to push our state further in development. So, those claims that Sabah is one of the poorest are lies," said Musa.Thirdly, he said, the State Government has successfully managed to reduce Sabah's dependency on the timber industry to only 10 per cent by diversifying its economic resources."There are those who claim that Sabah has lost its timber because the BN government exploited its forests. These stories are lies," he said.He reiterated that the state has the largest forest reserve areas in the country, covering 53 per cent of its entire land mass."Not only that, for our state also has the highest rate of Totally Protected Areas (TPAs), nearly 30 per cent which exceeds three times more than the 10 per cent required under international standard. We've also implemented forest replanting covering 700 hectares," he said.Musa said the BN government can demonstrate its long list of achievements which are spelled out in the manifesto.Some of them are: - RM3.7 billion in state funds as compared to RM100 million in 2001- RM57 billion foreign investments in the Sabah Development Corridor- Reducing poverty rate to 2.9 per cent as compared with 19.7 per cent in 2009- Solving the illegal immigrants issue with 569,439 repatriated from 1990 to April 2018- 119,083.03 acres of land given out since 2010 to 213 villages and 10,462 land owners- Surveyed 15,237 lots and 23,124 hectares in 15 districts by the Land and Survey Department under the Native Land Services (PANTAS) programme- Building the 706km Pan Borneo Highway at the cost of RM12.86 billion which will be completed in 2021- Gazetted 898,762.76 hectares of Tun Mustapha Marine Park- RM325 million channeled to vernacular and non-Islamic bodies- Implement high impact projects such as the Sabah International Convention Centre and the Tanjung Aru Eco Development which is expected to generate RM30 billion returnsStay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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- Employment opportunities in the oil and gas sector- Building affordable homes – 19,491 units (Jabatan Perumahan Negara), 3,588 (SPNB), 8,161 (PRIMA) and 4,120 (LPPB).