I am appalled by the recent statement by Assistant Minister of Local Government Datu Dr Penguang Manggi justifying that the directive by the state government of barring and banning community leaders from attending functions or programmes organised by the federal government is because that there are merely following the practices of the current federal government where local assemblymen and state government officers are not allowed to be invited to Sekolah Kerajaan(SK) or Sekolah Menengah Kerajaan(SMK) functions.
Upon hearing his statement, I checked with the Deputy Education Minister to verify whether such directive did come down from the federal government or not, and I was informed that there is no such directive from the federal government. Thus, either the Deputy Minister Datu Dr Penguang is ignorant of the fact and tried to make up an excuse for the State Government’s directive, or he is blatantly trying to mislead the public on the matter.
Fact of the matter is, such directive itself from the beginning is not only unreasonable, undemocratic but also unconstitutional as it infringes the rights of freedom of association of these community leaders, as well as limit the ability of these community leaders to better serve the people that are under their responsibility.
There are many initiatives done by the democratically elected Pakatan Harapan Federal Ministers and Ministry that is done for the benefit of the people, including to explain government policies and how it will benefit the people, and also to hear feedback and input from these community leaders in order to better carry out their responsibility and formulate better policies that will benefit the community as a whole.
An example will be the recent Townhall session organised by the Ministry of Agriculture where both the Federal MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND AGRO-BASED INDUSTRY YB TUAN SALAHUDDIN BIN HAJI AYUB and also the State Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah had a townhall session with different stakeholders to get their feedback and also hear their concerns on the industry so that they can better serve them. This discourse benefited the farmers and stakeholders that came and even they requested for it to be held more.
The new culture practised by the Pakatan Harapan government is to have more engagement with the people so we can better understand the issues on the ground to better serve the people, and such directive will not only limit the Federal Ministers to do their job properly, but also affect the people that are suppose to benefit from the policies of the government. At the end, the people suffer due to such unreasonable decisions by the State government as well as a complete disregard to the democratic choice of the people.
The common excused used by GPS leaders to defend such directive including stating that the community leaders in the state are appointed and paid monthly allowances by the Sarawak and thus they are bound by the state government.
First and foremost, even if they are paid by the State Government, that money and resources does not belong to the State government but belongs to the people. The state government collects taxes from the people as revenue to pay these community leaders. Thus, the responsibility of these community leaders are to their people, and to act as a link between the government of the day, whether federal or State to benefit the people under their care.
If we follow that logic, then does it mean that Federal Departments including the hospital, police, fire department that are funded by the Federal Government do not have the responsibility to serve the State Leaders or those being paid by the State Government?
It does not work that way and I am saddened that the people including the community leaders are caught in between political games played by the State government. There are issues that are beyond partisan politics including the interest of the people, and that principle should be uphold no matter what.
Thus, i hope the State Government will reconsider the directive and find a common ground to work together with the democratically elected Pakatan Harapan Government for the interest of the people and allow these community leaders to better serve their people including through better engagement with different initiatives by the Federal Government.