KUCHING, Nov 15, 2014: Pelawan state lawmaker David Wong
Kee Woan has claimed that the state government is allocating 50% of the total
development allocations in the State Budget to the rural areas because it wants
to counter the DAP's Impian Sarawak rural drive programme.
"Why is this 50% of the development allocation of
the proposed budget for the implementing of programmes and projects in the
rural area? he asked.
"It seems that this is in response to the Impian
Sarawak launched by the DAP," he said when debating the State Budget in
the State Assembly yesterday.
"Maybe the Impian Sarawak strikes fear in the heart
of the BN leaders and although they talk down about the Rakyat centric-Impian Sarawak
projects, they actually have felt the impact on the lives of the people,"
Wong claimed.
Chief Minister Adenan Satem, who is also the State
Finance Minister, had tabled the State Budget which allocated 70% of the budget
allocations of RM6.5b to development and the rest was for operating expenditures.
Wong said:" The call for Ubah (Change) is spreading
from the urban centres to the rural areas, (so Sarawak being) a BN fixed deposit
state is no longer secure anymore for the BN."
Wong, however, applauded Adenan for his stance on keeping
extremists, religious bigots and racists from Malaya out of Sarawak.
"Sarawak is no place for the likes of Ibrahim Ali
and the name "Ibrahim Ali" is synonymous with religious bigot and
racism in Malaysia," he said.
He hit out at Annuar Rapaee (BN-Nangka) with his utterance
against the Opposition lawmakers for not able to speak in Bahasa Malaysia
fluently.
"I must put on record my regret that a certain
member of this house has uttered something which has a racial undertone on Nov 11 during the debate on the Motion on
"Crime Reducing in Sarawak".
Wong referred to the 5th paragraph, at page 68 of the
Hansard, which states " As a
multiracial country, Malaysia, I am also very sad that still many of you cannot
speak Bahasa Malaysa very well after 51 years of Merdeka. That is, should shame
on you rather than reporting that you cannot speak Bahasa.
He said Article
161 of the Federal Constitution states that "no act of Parliament, terminating
or restricting the use of the English language, shall come into operation until
the Act or relevant provision of it has been approved by an enactment of the
Legislature of that State."
" Article 26 (8) of the Sarawak Constitution provides
that "for a period of 10 years and thereafter until the Legislature by law
otherwise provides, all proceedings in the Dewan may be in the English
language, and subject to the standing orders of the Dewan Undangan Negeri,
members may use any native language in addressing the Dewan," Wong quoted
the constitution.
He said Annuar should not be ignorant of the constitution
and special position of Sarawak and put to shame those who cannot speak Bahasa
"very well".
"We must understand that there are many who can't speak
Bahasa fluently but that are not of their own makings. Many poor people then did not have the chance to go to school
and even those who did go to school, they were not exposed to Bahasa during the
early years of the formation of Malaysia as English is the official language of
Sarawak," he said.
He said all state lawmakers do their parts to help Adenan
to make Sarawak a land for all Sarawakians regardless of their racial and
religious backgrounds and the lawmakers should lead by example as the State
Assembly is the highest decision-making
body in the state.
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