KUCHING, Feb 8 — Works Minister Baru Bian today asked Sarawakians not to have doubts over the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government’s performance in governing the country, especially in fulfilling its election promises to the state.
He said Sarawakians must have faith in the new federal government which came to power only eight months ago.
“There is a sincere intention on the part of the PH federal government to do what is best for the nation,” he told reporters at the PKR Stampin Chinese New Year open house here.
He stressed that there will be plenty of challenges faced by the new federal government as it moves on, adding the sincere efforts by the government leaders to do what is right and best is important.
Baru, who is also state PKR chief, said the PH federal government will strive to fulfill the promises it made to the people of Sarawak in the 14th general election (GE14).
He , however, said the PH federal government will not set any time-frame to fulfill the promises because it does not want to put itself under unnecessary pressure.
“Because things are unpredictable, but whatever it is, the efforts to do the best is very important. That is how I see it,” he said.
“We in the new government have made the commitment to do the best we can. Having been given the mandate by the people in GE14, we will pray that we will be given the wisdom to lead the nation into a new Malaysia,” he said.
Baru reminded Sarawakians that the country was in the “most challenging time” when PH took over the federal government from the Barisan Nasional after winning in GE14.
He said that the federal government leaders are aware of the high expectations from the people who put PH into power.
“We just ask the people for an understanding, and in the coming months and years we would like to do our very best to give back to society and do our best as the leaders of this country,” he said.
Baru also assured Sarawakians that amendment to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution to re-instate the status of Sarawak and Sabah as equal partners to Malaya in the Federation of Malaysia is expected to be tabled in Parliament this year.
He said this is one of the commitments that the PH federal government has pledged to the people of the two Borneo states.
He also asked the ruling state Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government to be patient with regards to reclaiming state’s rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
He said the federal cabinet steering committee on the review of MA63 has just having its first meeting to discuss submissions and proposals from the Sarawak and Sabah state governments.
“Therefore, it is still premature to say that the steering committee has not made any headway on MA63,” Baru, who is a member of the committee, said.
