SIBU: Since it cannot meet the conditions needed to attain city status, Sibu should instead concentrate on sprucing up, said the town’s new municipal council chairman.
Speaking at an oath-taking ceremony for new Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) councillors yesterday, Clarence Ting explained that to attain city status in Malaysia, besides stringent requirements, the primary consideration was that the town must have a minimum population of 500,000 while the council’s income per annum should reach RM100mil.
Unfortunately, the town is far from these set conditions – Sibu currently has a population of just 280,000 and SMC’s revenue is only RM63mil per annum, Ting said.
“Instead of trying to achieve city status, we should concentrate on making our town clean and tidy. By that I mean, in the CBD (central business district) area, our shops should
be freshly painted, landscaping properly done, our signboards bright and clear, our coffee shops, our public toilets clean and hygienic.”
Many viewed Sibu as a stagnant town – not growing like its northern counterparts Bintulu and Miri – as well as old and uninteresting, he said but stressed that this was certainly not the case seeing how traffic jams and parking problems were perennial problems – a clear sign that Sibu was not only growing but full of life.
Ting said as SMC’s new chairman, he needed assistance from the state government to improve the roads here. He also wanted the federal government to upgrade Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, which links to Sibu Airport.
Meanwhile, Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian, who attended the ceremony, wanted all Sarawak MPs irrespective of their political affiliations to fight for the return of tax money collected from Sarawak.
He gave an example of tax collected by the federal government on roads constructed by the state government. “We must fight for this money so that we can spend for the benefit of our people.”
On requests by the 24 local authorities for development funds, Dr Sim said he would consider them.
