Julau MP Larry Sng says he was right to join Perikatan Nasional five months ago.
Sng said, in a Facebook post Saturday (Aug 7), that since he joined Perikatan Nasional, several of the projects he applied for were approved and benefited the people of Julau.
He said Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had recently approved his application for the construction and repair of concrete roads in the Pakan and Julau districts costing RM2mil.
“I am very grateful that the government is now concerned and has contributed to the Julau parliamentary constituency.
“A few months ago, Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin also approved two projects for Julau involving a cost of RM1.8mil for the purpose of repairing the Julau Waterfront and Pakan Car Park,” he added.
Additionally, the minister had also approved the proposed construction of a Class E Fire Station in Julau with an estimated cost of between RM2mil to RM3mil.
Touching on Covid-19 vaccinations, Sng said the vaccination rate in Julau was very high.
“The vaccine reception in the Julau area is very good and more than 70% of the people aged 18 and above have received the vaccine,” he said.
It is a tragedy that an expensive British education at a foremost institution has had so little impact on this MP’s poor understanding of the rule of law in a democratic system.
Malaysians have been allowed to drift into an understanding that it is acceptable for ‘projects’ and even straight grants to be channelled into constituencies as a ‘reward’ for backing the political parties in power.
It is even treated as acceptable that local MPs should be allowed control special budgets gifted to them by their political allies in government (and denied to opposition MPs) to ‘keep their constituents happy’.
All of the above is of course outrageous corruption. Policies should be implemented on behalf of the public for reasons of merit, not to shore up support for corrupt politicians who want to stay in office. Projects ought therefore to be properly tendered and distributed according to need and based on those polices, not according to whether the local MP has corruptly frogged over to another party in order to receive these benefits.
Larry Sng of all people ought to have learned these basic and fundamental principles of good governance, thanks to his decent education, sufficient to at least understand how bad it looks to brag about his evident corruption.
The money was wasted. Since here he is openly boasting how pleased he is that by deserting his proclaimed principles and former allies he has:
a) managed to get the tax authorities of his back – authorities set on to him by the Mahiaddin government to pressure him into jumping in the first place; [update – Larry Sng has clarified to SR that his tax issues were resolved thanks to him resorting to borrowing from his family and this is why he says the proceedings against him are now closed and not because he frogged it to PN]
b) channelled public tax money (raised from other people in other constituencies) into his area – money directly released by PM Mahiaddin and by the corrupted Housing Minister and Azmin supporter Zuraida Kamaruddin (who has also drummed up projects to keep fellow hopper Ali Biju happy) in order that he can enrich the local movers and shakers who shore up his support in dirt poor Julau and
c) get vaccine preference into his area, over and above the needs of other people in Sarawak.
It is ironic that had he stood up and made these admissions in the home of his Alma Mater in the UK (the LSE) Larry Sng would have invited an immediate visit from the local police, who would rightly enquire about an apparent political conspiracy he has himself admitted to involving the misappropriation of public funds and evasion of criminal charges.
Malaysia’s next government has a major job of reform to perform. It will be better off without ignorant and corrupt MPs like Larry Sng polluting the decision making process.