KUCHING: Special Assistant to Chong Chieng Jen, Abdul Aziz Isa claims that Batu Kitang assemblyman Lo Khere Chiang has been hurling baseless accusations against him and in his wild imagination, thought the former was accusing MPP for not issuing an Occupation Permit (OP) for the newly completed Industrialised Built System (IBS) school block for SK Jalan Haji Baki.
Aziz says this goes to show how ignorant Lo is for not being able to read his statement properly but instead spin and fling untruthful stories around just for the sake of confusing the public in order to gain cheap publicity.
In his press conference yesterday, Aziz said firstly, the whole cost of SK Jalan Haji Baki was RM26.52 million and was approved by the BN regime under the 11th Malaysia Plan.
However, only a portion – RM2.93 million or 11.5 per cent – was allocated to build the IBS school block.
“Secondly, it was the previous BN regime via the Ministry of Education, for some reason, who appointed a West Malaysian contractor to do the simple job in 2016.
“If Lo is aware of this issue and has claimed that Sarawak has so many capable contractors, why didn’t he and the Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) not convene an urgent meeting to discuss this matter? Did he write any official letters to the then Minister of Education Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid requesting the ministry to appoint a local contractor?
“If not, then Lo has no right to blame the current PH government for the appointment of a contractor made by the previous BN regime. It just shows that Lo and SUPP had failed to stand for Sarawakians,” Aziz shot back.
Thirdly, Aziz said he was aware that the project was not completed because the contractor did not do a proper job.
“You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to understand this. I agree that this was because of the horrendous performance of the contractor that the consultants are not willing to apply for an OP from MPP. It is malicious of Lo to put words in my mouth by saying I’m accusing MPP of not issuing the OP.
“In which paragraph of my press statement did I accuse MPP? I was asking that “if the IBS building has yet to receive OP, why has none of the MPP councillors raise this issue?” My question is very simple and Lo just needed to answer either “Yes, they did” or “No, they didn’t”.
“Why has Lo made his life hard by beating around the bush? I would humbly ask Lo to read my statement properly,” he said.
Aziz added that the duty of a councillor is to review building guidelines, address problems and complaints by the public as well as briefings by and meetings with other parties such as contractors.
“This uncompleted and poorly constructed IBS school block was “completed” in 2016. If the MPP councillors are aware of this issue, why can’t they assist the contractors to follow the proper guidelines so that the consultant can apply for OP? If the MPP councillors are not aware of this, it shows that GPS-appointed councillors are not effective and efficient in carrying out their duties.”
He urged Lo and MPP to settle this issue immediately.
“Failure to assist the contractor to obtain OP through proper guidelines poses imminent danger to the students and teachers. Do not risk their safety and lives.”
