Published on: Sunday, November 08, 2009 |
PM Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said there is no need for the people of Sabah to look for an alternative Government if the existing strong relationship and co-operation between the Federal and State Barisan Nasional (BN) continues to be preserved.
He said Sabah's future is bright and the State could only go higher as the BN Government is really committed to bringing development to the people. "Sabah continued to get the Federal Government's attention because it can be seen that its support to the BN is getting stronger by the day.
"I want the rakyat of Sabah to be on par with others in the country. That is why most of the (allocations) under the National Key Results Area (NKRA) for rural development is for Sabah," he said, adding that he had also informed Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Shafie Apdal to ensure the NKRA must be from Sabah.
Secondly, he said he had directed for the needs of all the villages in Sabah to be identified. "If not enough allocation (the State Government) give the allocation first and we will top it up later.
"I assure that the first cut in the 10th Malaysia Plan will be on the NKRA," he said, adding that all the areas named by PBS President Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan in his welcoming speech needing to be given emphasis would be done.
"There is no need for the Sabah people to look for alternative É we will make the difference this is my commitment to the people of Sabah," he said to thunderous applause.
Najib, who was officiating at a PBS congress for the first time as the Chairman of BN and Prime Minister, said what was important was for all to close ranks.
"Don't fight among us. We have enough problems. We are one family, one Malaysia and there is nothing more heart warming than to get the Malays, Chinese, Ibans, Kadazans, Indians to sit together and discuss in a family spirit," he said.
"With one dream, one hope, one race, one nation we will be able to look at a brighter future É there is no problem that cannot be overcome," he said.
Najib commended the BN supporters in Sabah, especially PBS for the continuous support to the struggle of the coalition "which further strengthen my confidence that PBS and BN in general will be able to lead the Sabah Government".
This, he said, further bolstered Sabah's image as the fixed deposit for the BN so much so that he now described Sabah as a "Blue State".
But, he said this did not come easily and "we should not be too comfortable because today it is not business as usual".
"Today we are facing a situation where the people whether in Sabah, Sarawak or Semenanjung are now getting more educated and thanks to us their education level is getting higher.
"When the people are getting more educated their expectations of us also get higher," he said, adding it was proven during the General Election in 2008 when the political tsunami hit Peninsular Malaysia.
"The people want a government who are sensitive to their needs and they want a government able to meet their expectation be it in development, education, bringing clean and efficient administration, stimulate economy and fair," he said.
Towards this end, he assured that the BN was making changes so that it would be able to tell the people that "there is no better choice but BN in the next General Election".
"When I become the Prime Minister on April 3, I promised to make change," he said, adding that among them was the 1Malaysia People First Performance Now concept.
He said he did not moot the 1Malaysia as a slogan but as a philosophy that must be inculcated among the BN component parties as part of their ideologies.
Underneath the 1Malaysia concept, Najib said: "We celebrate our diversity É I don't use (the word) tolerate because it means a minimum level and there is another higher level that is acceptance and yet another level is to celebrate."
Also on hand were Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman, Barisan Nasional Secretary-General Datuk Tengku Adnan Mansor and other component party leaders.
