Media statement by Leon J. Donald on Tuesday, 12^th April 2011:

BN's Plan to build New Sri Aman Hospital, 15 years on and the empty promise and posturing continues!

In a despicable act of pure political opportunism and desperation, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak added to the 15 year long, litany of broken BN promises to the people of Sri Aman, by announcing that a new Sri Aman hospital worth RM200 million will be completed in 2013. All this, the PM did in a mere 30 minute press conference-cum-visit, forgetting that the good people of Sri Aman had to endure incalculable suffering and the needless loss of human lives over the last 15 years of BN neglect.

This is clear proof that BN has not and will not change the politics of corruption and vote-buying through "election goodies", that the BN/Taib administration has been practicing for the last 40 years. The PM, alongside Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai and SUPP candidate, Francis Harden, have added further insult to injury, blind to the demands of ordinary Sri Aman folk for fairness and decency, particularly in the case of access to healthcare.

On behalf of the rakyat of Sri Aman, I want to challenge the Prime Minister to show us where exactly is the piece of land that the Government has designated for the construction of the new hospital? The Prime Minister failed to answer the simple question of when will the construction begin, stating in ambiguous terms that work will only begin sometime this year once the land research is completed.

The people of Sri Aman, in desperation, have waited for 15 years for a new hospital able to meet their most basic of needs. If the PM is serious, I challenge him and the SUPP candidate to apologize to the people of Sri Aman and categorically begin construction this Friday, before the people goes to the polls. If not, why should the people believe in this 30 minute public relations exercise by BN, designed purely to appease the real anger of ordinary Sri Aman citizens?

The PM also announced that the health ministry will look into the possibility of stationing one or two specialist doctors in the hospital. This is precisely the kind of move that has failed in the past 15 years, where local sources have stated that due to the dilapidated conditions and the lack of equipment at the hospital, specialist doctors have not been able to perform effectively.

It is most telling that the only specialist who has served the hospital in the past, was a foreign doctor who performed so badly that his services were discontinued. The PM does not understand that it is precisely because of lack of basic equipment, such as CT Scans, that is the cause of good specialist doctors not wanting to be stationed here.

Can the PM guarantee all Sri Aman citizens that this proposal of placing one or two specialist doctors in the hospital ensure that all patients will receive safe and professional medical treatment, while waiting for the completion of the hospital in 2013, if the construction begins at all?

Also, the people of Sri Aman is fed-up with the blatant corruption and mismanagement of state funds under the Taib regime. I challenge the BN government to give specific details in an open and transparent manner, on the choice of contractor for this RM200 million hospital building project. Will this be another project that will benefit the cronies and proxy companies of Taib Mahmud and his minions? Without any specific plans spelled out, what is the guarantee that the proposed project will not suffer cost overruns or bad management, as was the case in the past?

Enough is enough. One swallow does not make a summer. The people are tired of the same BN promises and shenanigans, repeated ad nauseam for the last 15 years, with no hospital building to show for it. Instead, the Prime Minister, the Health Minister and the SUPP candidate, should collectively apologize to all residents of Sri Aman for not taking real action sooner. We will not believe you unless you start building the hospital before April 16^th.

*Leon J. Donald, DAP Candidate for Simanggang