PENAMPANG: All newly-appointed chairmen of the Village Development and Security Committee (JPKK) in the Moyog area are reminded to carry out their responsibilities well and focus on services and development in their respective areas.
Penampang Member of Parliament Datuk Ewon Benedick said this is important to ensure the development needs of each village could be given due attention.
“Before this, especially during the election, some of us had different opinions and views, but the election has passed and now our focus is to provide the best services to the people.
“Now is not the time for us to argue about who is the chairman of JPKK. What is more important is to bring development.
“Therefore, I hope all JPKK chairpersons who received this letter of appointment will be able to carry out their responsibilities well,” said Ewon, who is also Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister, when handing over the JPKK Moyog appointment letters at Dewan Huguan Siou Kg Tuavon, here, Saturday.
According to Ewon, the appointment of JPKK is based on the recommendations of each party that supports the State Government.
“I hope every JPKK can cooperate with government departments and agencies to facilitate the implementation of government programmes, especially in the villages. We must be a strong and united Penampang team in order to manage development well and ensure that every planned development can be implemented as soon as possible.
“If we always ‘fight’ without cooperation and understanding, our own village will lose because the needs and development of the village cannot be given attention,” he said.
Regarding the Penampang Development Plan which is currently being implemented by the Sabah Development Institute (IDS), Ewon wants all JPKKs to provide input to IDS regarding the development needs in their villages.
“An organised and comprehensive Penampang Development plan will make it easier for us to find allocations and that the responsibility of the elected representatives is to seek allocations for every development plan presented by the residents.
“The problem will not be solved as long as there is no provision. Therefore, in order to speed up the preparation of allocations, the Penampang Development Plan is one of our initiatives to speed up implementation,” he said.
Ewon said in addition to focusing on services and development, the JPKK chairmen also act as the “eyes and ears” of the Government to ensure the security of the village is always guaranteed.
“If there are foreigners or undocumented immigrants in the villages causing a security risk, the JPKK chairmen should act quickly to report it to the authorities,” said Ewon.
During the ceremony, Ewon presented the certificates of appointment to a total of 61 JPKK chairmen in the Moyog area.
Also present were Penampang District Officer Francis Chong, Penampang District Police Chief DSP Mohd Haris Ibrahim and community leaders.
