Challenge to Dr. Sim Kui Hian to disclose the full amount of the assessment rates paid by the house-owners of the Stutong Resettlement Scheme in the past 10 years

I am now throwing a challenge to Dr. Sim Kui Hian to disclose the full amount of the assessment rates paid by the house-owners of the Stutong Resettlement Scheme in the past 10 years and to be held accountable for the lack of development in the area despite the payment of the assessment.

This is in response to the claim by the SUPP Complaint Bureau Chief, Wilfred Yap, because the Opposition has won in the area, there was no development in Stutong Resettlement Scheme for the past 10 years.

Such a statement is most laughable and only reflect the ignorance and immaturity on the part of Yap as a politician and such statement coming from a trained lawyer as Yap, makes it even more ridiculous.

As trained lawyers, we all know that in our first-year law school, we were all taught about the different role of the Parliament and the Executive, amongst which, we were taught that it is the Government’s duty to properly manage the country’s coffer and to provide infrastructural development in any area because the people pay taxes to the Government.

The house-owners in the Stutong Resettlement Scheme paid their assessment rates to the Government of the day, the Majlis Bandaray Kuching Selatan. It is thus the duty of the Government to develop the infrastructure in the area. If the BN Government does not wish to develop the area, then it shall have no rights and justification to collect assessment rates from the house-owners in the area.

Besides paying assessment rates, they also pay income taxes, GST, import duties and other taxes.

Wilfred Yap has either totally forgotten the text taught in his 1st year law school or he was just playing dumb when he made such ridiculous statement? Either way, in my opinion, he has shown himself to be an insincere politician to the people.

Furthermore, I wish to point out that Yap’s claim (about the total lack of development in Stutong Resettlement Scheme for the last 10 years because the Opposition ADUN has won in the area) is a total lie itself:

1. In fact, there were actually some infrastructural upgrading work done in the area in the past 10 years, though it still leaves much to be desired. However, to say that there is total lack of development as claimed by Wilfred Yap is also not true.
2. If it were true that there was totally no development in the area, then MBKS must refund to the residents all the assessment rates collected from the house-owners in the area.
3. That area also falls under the Parliamentary seat of Stampin, which has held by SUPP up till 2013. The previous MP for Stampin was Datuk Yong Khoon Seng who was then the Deputy Minister of Works. Is Wilfred Yap also alleging that the SUPP MP for Stampin was also not doing his job to develop the area?

Since the SUPP Complain Bureau has now claimed that there was no development in the Stutong Resettlement Scheme for the last 10 years, it is incumbent upon Dr Sim Kui Hian as the Minister in-charge of local government (1) to disclose to the public the total assessment rates paid by the house-owners in the area, (2) to provide an explanation why there was no development in the area despite them paying the assessment rates and (3) to refund the full assessment rates to the house-owners in the area in the event that there were no development in the area as claimed by Wilfred Yap.

According to my conservative estimation, the total assessment rates paid to MBKS by the house-owners in the area for the past 10 years should easily exceed RM10 million. I urge Dr Sim not to run away from his responsibility to be accountable to the house-owners in the area. TELL US, HOW MUCH HAS MBKS COLLECTED FROM THE PEOPLE IN THE AREA.