KUALA LUMPUR: Many in Sarawak still want Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak as prime minister, according to Batang Sadong MP Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri (pix).
The former de facto law minister said the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) administration, under the stewardship of Najib, had contributed tremendously to the Borneo state, something that has not gone unnoticed by Sarawakians.
“I must say the previous government did not do badly for us (in Sarawak). In fact, if you ask Sarawakians, they still want Najib to be there. Because it was him who made it all happen for Sarawak.
“I’m not trying to promote him, but he knew what Sarawak needed. He went down there more than 60 times when he was in power. He went to all the rural areas, and he made it easier for us,” she said during a public forum titled ‘The Next Four Years: What Now for Malaysia’, here, today.
Among other things, Najib had pushed for the construction of the Pan Borneo Highway connecting Sarawak to Sabah to address the issue of a lack of road network system in the state.
In his time as the premier, Najib had also approved about RM2 billion worth of projects for Sarawak.
Nancy also questioned those who criticised Sarawakian politicians for initially agreeing to join then Malaya in 1963 and remaining in the BN coalition, claiming the state leaders saw the peninsular as “better off looking” in comparison.
“We were in BN because that was the only parent we had at that time. Was it wrong? Before that, we had nothing. As a matter of fact, if you had noticed, when we were in the government, we also criticised the leadership for any setbacks,” she said.
Nancy noted that since the change in government last year, many infrastructures and development projects were either cancelled or put on hold.
“It’s not like we are asking for a third national car or an underground tunnel. Some smaller-scale projects costing mere RM20,000 were also similarly scraped,” she said.
On the Pakatan Harapan government’s failed attempt in Parliament to restore Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners to the peninsular, Nancy said it was merely a political move meant to tick off promises made by the coalition in its election manifesto.
