PH PARLIAMENTARY COORDINATORS
MIRI: Pakatan Harapan’s appointment of non-elected representatives as Parliamentary Co-ordinators in 19 constituencies in Sarawak has drawn more flaks from local politicians.
President of Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said such appointments clearly indicated PH was trying to exert control in the rural areas.
“It is PH’s way to garner votes in the upcoming state election.
“But the move is both hypocritical and illegitimate especially when Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng had repeatedly said that the country was in such dire financial straits that it will be forced to launch a stimulus package soon to fight the stressed economy due to the Covid-19 epidemic,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Tiong said any government has an obligation to uphold the principles of transparency in how they use public funds and be accountable to the people from whom they have collected the revenues.
The Bintulu MP questioned how the Pakatan Harapan federal government would account for the RM500,000 allocated annually to each of the parliamentary coordinators.
“This equates to RM9.5 million and the federal government has another 3 years left in power,” he noted.
“So where is it getting the cash to spend on these 19 representatives?” Tiong asked.
He said that after replacing the Village Security and Development Committee (JKKK) with the much-maligned Village Community Management Council (MPKK), this is the latest blatant example of throwing money at non-elected representatives to spend without being held accountable and hoping for more political mileage.
“This decision is a huge slap on the faces of the voters that put the legitimate MPs there during the 14th general election.
“Evidently, the efforts and contributions of the legitimate representatives do not matter if they are not subservient to the federal lords,” Tiong added.
