LAJIM SHOULD STOP BEING EVASIVE

KOTA KINABALU: Sukau Assemblyman Datuk Saddi Abdul Rahman said Umno Supreme Council Member, Datuk Seri Lajim Ukin is confusing and misleading the people of Sabah.

He said Lajim was also vague in his remarks published in the papers Tuesday when he is still in Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN).

"Lajim said that he met with other leaders (from other parties) in Sabah to bring about improvement, an assurance, a change in terms of leadership at the state in terms of approach and the people's aspirations prior to the 13th General election," in his statement.

"Who are these 'leaders from other parties in Sabah' that he (Lajim) had met and referred to in his statement? Is Lajim referring to other component parties in BN or opposition parties?

"It is also a puzzle on Lajim's stand because why is Lajim discussing with other party leaders in Sabah on a change in the State leadership when he can just take up the issue with BN or Umno since he is still in the party," he said.

Saddi, who is Kg Batu Putih Umno branch head, was commenting on the statement in which the Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister dismissed a news portal report that he would leave Umno and join the opposition in Sabah.

The Beaufort MP, was also reported as saying that the rumours might have been started because he had held meetings with several leaders from other parties in Sabah to discuss and resolve the people's problem.

"I do not understand why Lajim would want to discuss solving the people's problems (in Sabah) with other party leaders when he should be discussing and bringing up the matters to the top State leadership, particularly the Chief Minister and the BN top leadership for that matter.

"Since the General Election is round the corner, Lajim should just thrash out the problems within the party and not create an unnecessary problem to get attention. Does he have an agenda to gain political mileage?," Saddi asked.

According to him, the present BN government is waging a battle of perception with the opposition especially the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) that is often questioning and finding faults with various government programmes and policies that aim to develop the nation and benefit the people.

"It is best the party members (BN and Umno) not create a problem as our unity is vital, especially during the rising election fever.

"The opposition parties will twist and give negative perceptions on the Government's positive and beneficial programmes like the Government Transformation Programme (GTP), Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), 1Azam programme and even the BR1M, to confuse the people when it is clearly helping and improving the society's living standard.

"We want to win this battle of perception by telling the truth to the people and giving the right picture about what the Federal and State Government have been doing É and to reach out to the grassroots so that they would not be easily influence by the propaganda disseminated by the opposition parties.

"Hence, a veteran politician like Lajim should know better about his role in the party É he should be helping the party (BN and Umno) which he is still a member of and not make statements as if he is against it," he said.

Saddi said he was sure that Lajim has witnessed the good track record of the BN government in developing Sabah and the nation.