Kota Kinabalu: The voice of the opposition is a reflection of the voices of the people who are fed up with the empty promises given by their respective wakil rakyat in the past, said Inanam Assemblyman Dr Roland Chia at the State Legislative Assembly sitting, Wednesday.Refuting Bongawan Assemblyman Mohamad Alamin for labelling the opposition as suara sumbang (voices of dissent), he said the people only want their voices to be heard.
The voice of the people is the reason why democracy is still very much alive, he said.
And as the opposition, it highlights the voices of the people and also acts as their eyes and ears, he said.
He said it is very arrogant of Banggi Assemblyman, Abdul Mijul Unaini, to express hopes that the opposition would be defeated in the next general election.
"Does he also want to eradicate the more than 2,000 voters in Banggi who did not vote for him in the recent general election?" he asked.
Mijul's arrogance, he said, is either his personal attitude or the Barisan Nasional cultural attitude having been in power for too long already.
Such arrogance, he said, is likened to a book that was written by a democratic senator in the US, J. William Fullbright, entitled "The Arrogance of Power".
Dr Chia's debut at the assembly sitting, however, drew criticism from BN assemblymen especially his points on the unemployed in Sabah.
Assistant Finance Minister, Datuk Ramlee Marhaban, said the figures he quoted from the Statistics Department and World Bank entitled "Putting Higher Education to Work" in September 2011 was probably the works of the opposition.
Minister of Special Duties, Datuk Teo Chee Kang, said Dr Chia's figures also are different from that of the State Government.
On other issues, Dr Chia highlighted issues of safety among hawkers in Inanam, Menggatal and Telipok with sale of contraband and also syabu.
"The presence of these elements are posing a safety issue to local hawkers and Inanam Darat and Telipok Darat residents," he said.
There were many cases of robbery and thefts in housing areas as well as commercial and industrial areas in Kolombong, Menggatal township, Inanam Darat and Telipok Darat.
On infrastructure, more than 60 per cent of the villages under the jurisdiction of City Hall, he said, are still without proper water supply.
Most of the villagers, he said, depend on gravity water, which would be interrupted during the rainy season.
He said a blueprint on road upgrading including building parallel road and bypasses, must be produced.
