PENAMPANG: Billions of ringgit have been spent on infrastructure projects in Sabah but there is little to show for it, especially in rural areas.This has prompted a veteran political operative in Sabah to accuse federal government leaders of having an “evil” and “racist” attitude towards Sabah and Sarawak.
Fredoline Edwin Lojingki, 71, claims that by denying the two states similar infrastructure enjoyed in the peninsula, the federal government has kept the people in two states impoverished and deficient.
Lojingki, once an activist in the defunct United Kadazan National Organisation (Unko) and now a coordinator in Borneo Heritage Foundation (BHF), said each year both the federal and state governments trumpeted that hundreds of millions of ringgits would be spent on Sabah alone for rural development but it was astonishing that little is accomplished.
“Each year billions of ringgits are allocated for infrastructure with a focus on basic infrastructure.
“What astonishes me is that little is felt here in many rural areas in Sabah.
‘I have travelled to many parts of Sabah in recent times and I found it scary to claim that those billions were ever spent in Sabah.
“Not even small bridges or roads have been built in many of those places I visited. Even in Penampang, Inanam, Papar, Kota Belud, Keningau, Tambunan, Kudat, not to mention Nabawan, Sook, Banggi and some of the remote places in Ranau, Pitas, Kota Marudu.
“Very little has been done to upgrade public amenities like kampung roads and tracks, pedestrian bridges and even small wooden bridges have been left to rot.
“Don’t talk about drainage in the kampungs … it is almost non-existent,” he said.
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