LOCAL MICRO BUSINESS CRIPPLED?

SAD….. Edward Ewol Mujie visit small-time entrepreneurs operating by the roadside.

By: DAP MEDIA

SMALL-TIME entrepreneurs/hawkers operating by the roadside on the Jalan Sulaman, Karambunai area selling ‘lokan, lokan bakar, kelapa bakar’ and coconut pudding have turned this place into another local tourist hotspot, but sadly their business remained very much the same after so many years without improvement.

Edward Ewol Muji, Sabah DAP Vice Chairman urges the state government to build them a better place to promote the local favorite snacks with an affordable price, and hopefully by the end of the day it would eventually benefit and raise the income of these many hawkers in this area and also promoting the tourism attraction here.

Since the federal government had mentioned a huge budget for the area in the Budget 2011, and it is also mentioned that the federal government will allocated RM 100 million for the upgrading of the nearby Karambunai Resort therefore this will bring in more tourist to the area.

It would be a win/win situation for the local entrepreneurs if the government would consider helping the hawkers to upgrade and transform their business environment. By supplying zinc roofing sheets and plywood during election time to these people who are mostly voters in this area definitely will not help them in the long run.

There are many poor people in the area who are in need of help from the government in terms of jobs opportunities and low cost housing be allocated to them. We have visited many poor families in the area, and their living condition is real bad and without the basic infrastructure like roads, drainage, water supply, and electricity supply. The children have to walk some 10 KM to their school daily.

How can this happen in this 21st Century and in Sabah just next to the State capital Kota Kinabalu? Have the erected BN YBs carried out their respective responsibilities to take care for the people? The BN slogan of the ‘People First’, “Rakyat didahulukan’ seems like a pack of lies and as something to cheat the people for their support.

The BN YBs should ask themselves whether they have done their part in bringing the necessary progress to the area. The many promised developments were not carried out and even being forgotten. We want to see the areas along Jalan Sulaman on way to Tuaran to be transformed into a tourism hub and booming with activities.