By Olivia Miwil - August 13, 2020 @ 6:24pm
(File pic) Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) has urged state caretaker Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal (pic) to let district offices hand over land titles to recipients. Photo by MALAI ROSMAH TUAH/NSTP
KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) has urged state caretaker Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal to let district offices hand over land titles to recipients.
PBS Secretary General Datuk Jahid Jahim was responding to reports of Shafie's recent criss-crossing the state to present land titles as the state election was approaching.
He said that if the handover was sincere, Shafie, who is also Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) president, should do away with giving rousing speeches at big events and take credit for initiatives started by the previous state government.
"It is also highly questionable that such activity is justified given that the state is still grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The Election Commission should check whether Shafie's tour of Sabah to give away land titles is tantamount to campaigning and vote-fishing," he said in a statement.
Jahid said that those land titles were made possible as they were the brainchild of former chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman through a programme named PANTAS that had an allocation of RM20 million from the then Barisan Nasional federal government.
"It looks like Shafie and his government are lacking in direction and do not have a comprehensive socio-economic development agenda for the people. No wonder, he must rely on BN's achievements and claim these as his own."
Meanwhile, Warisan Treasurer General Terrence Siambun said PBS was merely politicising a small issue and was ignorant about Shafie's personal handover, which had actually been going on since last year.
"Still, I want to thank Jahid for raising the matter, questioning why Shafie must deliver the land titles personally instead of asking the district officers to do it.
"There is a glaring difference in personality between Musa and Shafie when it comes to how they connect with the ordinary and poor villagers in Sabah.
"Shafie is more connected with the ordinary and poor villagers in Sabah and will go to a great length to sit down and talk with them to know how they're doing and their difficulties."
As for the claims that it was Musa's efforts, Terrence said he begged to differ that the expedited land titles issuance was due to ordinary villagers who stood up in anger for being denied their rights which PBS failed to address from 1986 to 1994 and during Musa's 15 years as the former Chief Minister.
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