SIBU: More than 5,000 people turned up at the ‘Harmony Night: United We Stand’ at Sibu Gateway here, last Wednesday.
The event was officiated at by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi (Dr) Abang Johari Tun Openg. He was accompanied by his wife Datin Patinggi Dato Juma’ani Tun Tuanku Bujang.
In his speech, Johari called on the people of Sibu to continue to uphold unity to enable the Barisan Nasional (BN) to wrest back the Sibu Parliamentary seat from the opposition in the upcoming 14th General Election (GE14).
According to the Chief Minister, it is important for BN to win the seat to enable it to transform the development in Sibu.
“BN government wants to transform Sibu again. And it can only be realised if there is cooperation between Sibu and the government.
“Apart from that, the people of Sibu must cooperate with each other and it is important for us to maintain unity among our multi-racial society,” he said.
On the development in Sibu, Johari said that Sibu has been developed since the time of the late Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Wong Soon Kai and when the late Datuk Robert Lau became MP, he transformed Sibu.
“Since then, Sibu has changed a lot. And in Sibu, we have the largest central market. Where can we get the largest central market except in Sibu.
“When I was a Housing Minister, I have transformed Sibu Jaya and now Sibu Jaya has became a modern town with a boulevard.
“Therefore, we want to transform Sibu again, but we must have cooperation between Sibu and the government,” he stressed.
He added that the state government is still a BN government and would govern the state for another three years.
Hence Johari hoped that BN would wrest back the Sibu seat for the opposition in the coming election.
“We need to have a common melody and the same tune to be able to work together. That is why we need to be united,” he said.
Meanwhile, he also hoped that Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and United People’s Party (UPP) would be united for the sake of the future of Sarawak.
As such, he said there must be unity and harmony among the people of the various races in the state.
Johari also said that he would continue the policies of the late Chief Minister Pehin Sri Adenan Satem, who had emphasised on numerous occasions never to label the Chinese as immigrants.
“The Chinese are born and raised here in Sarawak. And they are Sarawakians. This is our policy and will continue to be our policy,” he said.
Furthermore, he said that the state government had increased its assistance to Chinese medium schools to RM7 million and recognised the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC).
Minister of International Trade and E-Commerce, Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh, his wife Datin Sri Pauline Leong, Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian and Assistant Minister of Education and Technological Research, Dr Annuar Rapaee were among those present.
