Keadilan pledges reform if elected
14th March, 2007 Sabah Times

KOTA KINABALU : Parti Keadilan Rakyat Sabah (PKRS) would carry out a `total reform’ of the present system if it is elected in the next election.

Its deputy chairperson, Christina Liew declared this at their 2006 annual general meeting here yesterday.

Christina who is also the KK division chief said they did not and would never make `feel good’ promises “but if elected we will carry out a total reform”.

She added that they would take serious action on poverty eradication irrespective of race and religion as `poverty knows no boundary or race’.

“All human beings are equal. And, we promise we will implement policies and programmes that will truly benefit the people and not the privileged few.

“If we fail to honour our promises to reform the present system, reinstate people’s right, eradicate poverty, reform the land policy and to review the immigration policy, the people can always vote us out in the next round. The people shoud give themselves and their next generation a chance to a better government,” she said.

She thus called on the people of Sabah to think carefully whether they should continue to support the BN in the coming election, claiming it did not resolve many issues affecting them.

“Let us face the reality…some YBs cannot object to policies they know are not beneficial to the people. And, if the BN component parties have the influence, there won’t be these long over due unresolved issues like the “Project IC,” relocation of squatters to Kg Maang, grabbing of Native Title (NT) land by big companies at the expense of poor villagers, unfair distribution of development funds, the absence of the house buyers tribunal, insignificant oil royalty for Sabah, among others,” she claimed.

Christina also said if the people decided to continue voting for the BN, it meant they accepted the present system and should not later complain.

“Talk of power-sharing among the BN component parties is only a `lip service,” she further claimed.

Christina also urged the government to justify the millions spend on development in Sabah.

She recalled that even Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Bernard Dompok had recently said that the government did not dispute that the nation’s corruption index has slid down further. And, she asked if the anti-corruption campaign launched before the previous election had been effective.

“Who does the people turn to for probe into alleged corruption?,” she said.

Expressing concern on the perennial `Project IC/Dubious Citizens’ issue, she said it has permanently changed the `political landscape’ of the state.

“Foreigners who had secured the Mykads through dubious means have been known to be electing politicians to be our policy makers. If this continues, our security and economy could be at stake. Natives rights are fast eroding and given to these foreigners. Our people are crying loud for remedial action..but where is the action except for some empty promises,” she charged. – MICHAEL TEH