Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah information chief Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan said Bung’s claim that the GRS government was Sabah’s most inefficient government was baseless and conveniently sidestepped the Hajiji administration’s achievements.
Nizam, a state assistant minister, pointed out that Sabah’s revenue collection had nearly doubled in the past four years, reaching a record high of RM6.973 billion in 2023.
He said Hajiji had also successfully drawn multiple high-value investments to Sabah, creating thousands of job opportunities for the people.
“For example, there is the RM7.2 billion investment by Kibing Group to set up a solar glass manufacturing plant in Kimanis which will create 1,800 job opportunities.
“There is also the RM2.3 billion investment by SK Nexilis in a copper foil factory at the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park which will provide over 500 job opportunities.
“The GRS-Pakatan Harapan government is also actively helping Sabah youths obtain the necessary skills (for high-value jobs) through training programmes and partnerships with companies investing here,” Nizam said in a statement.
He said claims that the state government was inefficient or lacked integrity were merely attempts at distracting from the achievements of the Hajiji administration.
“I advise Bung to check his facts thoroughly before making statements that are hateful or vengeful in nature. He needs to realise that narrow-minded personal or political interests cannot be his main weapon to win over the people.”
Bung, the Sabah Barisan Nasional chief, had accused the current state government of being among the worst in the state’s history for its alleged failure to fulfil several major election vows, including the creation of hundreds of thousands of job opportunities.
He said Sabah remained among the poorest states in the country while its unemployment rate was still the highest.
Bung, who was formerly a deputy chief minister to Hajiji, vowed that BN would lift the eight poorest districts out of poverty while increasing the state’s competitiveness.