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DAP welcomes the positive and statesmanlike
response of Tajol Rosli to the DAP's win in three Kinta Valley parliamentary
seats and is prepared to fully co-operate with the Perak Mentri Besar to
ensure vigorous and sustainable development for Kinta Valley and Perak state
Media Statement (2)
by Lim Kit Siang
(Ipoh,
Thursday): DAP welcomes the positive and statesmanlike
response of Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Tajol Rosli Ghazali to the
DAP's win in three Kinta Valley parliamentary seats of Ipoh Timor, Ipoh
Barat and Batu Gajah and is prepared to fully co-operate with him to ensure
vigorous and sustainable development for the Kinta Valley and Perak state.
Tajol admitted yesterday that "there could be some level of dissatisfaction
among the people towards certain development projects" resulting in Barisan
Nasional's defeat in the two Ipoh parliamentary constituencies and he will
set up a special committee to take a relook at the development in the Kinta
Valley.
He said the first task of the committee would be to have a dialogue session
with the Perak Chinese Chambers of Commerce, dislocated farmers and Taxi
Drivers' Association.
Tajol is on the right track, very conscious of the democratic right of
voters to exercise their constitutional right to cast their vote and to use
the ballot box to send clear and unmistakable messages to the ruling
government of the day setting an excellent example to other Barisan Nasional
leaders in other parts of the country whose first reaction would be to sulk
at any electoral defeat and to threaten voters who had voted for the
Opposition with all sorts of dire consequences and punishments!
I have known Tajol in Parliament since his election as MP for Grik in 1978,
climbing up the government ladder as Parliamentary Secretary for two years
from 1984, Deputy Minister for 13 years from 1986 in the Ministries of
National and Rural Development; Energy, Telecommunications and Post;
Housing and Local Government and Home Affairs before he was promoted to full
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department from January to November 1999.
Although we have had our differences and
"tussles" in Parliament, and sometimes very intense and heated ones, we
respect each other and I believe we can work together for the betterment of
the welfare of the people of Kinta Valley and Perak.
The Kinta Valley DAP will establish a think-tank comprising representatives
from a cross-section of the people and various sectors of the civil society
who are prepared to work with the DAP to promote a vigorous and sustainable
development of Kinta Valley, which will be the basis for the DAP's
representation to the Perak State Government as to the desirable path of
development for Kinta Valley.
For a start, in the review of development in Kinta Valley promised by Tajol
Rosli, the Mentri Besar should re-visit the long-standing and unresolved
controversy over the irregular and improper construction of the light
industrial estate in the heart of massive housing estates in Ipoh Garden
East, which is against all planning laws and industrial development
guidelines.
Furthermore, he should rectify the four-year failure of the Perak State
Government and the Ipoh City Council to comply with his directive in August
2000 to demolish nine factory buildings as well as for Ipoh City Council to
allocate RM100,000 to provide a children's playground and a landscaped
garden to reduce the health, environment and safety hazards to the residents
posed by the light industrial estate in their midst.
(1/4/2004)
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Lim Kit Siang, DAP National
Chairman & Member of Parliament for Ipoh Timor
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