Kedah is advised to find a way to generate new income, said Mahdzir

ALOR SETAR: The Kedah State Government under the leadership of PAS is advised to find a way to generate new income to enable the government to distribute aid and defend the plight of the poor in the state.

According to Kedah State UMNO Liaison Board Chairman, Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid, Menteri Besar, Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor needs to carry out the responsibility of helping the poor instead of asking them to stop asking for help from the state’s PAS government.

“For me, as a Menteri Besar elected by the people of Kedah, he should shoulder the responsibility of helping the poor people in the state instead of issuing a statement so that the poor people no longer make asking for help from the PAS government a way of life.

That can be considered an insult to the poor and of course it is very disappointing to the people when a Menteri Besar asks the people not to rely on the PAS government for help”, he said in a statement to the media today.

He commented on Sanusi’s statement in a video recording of his speech in a ceremony that went viral on the Tiktok social media platform recently.

The recording shows Sanusi’s speech asking the poor people in Kedah to stop making a culture of asking for help from the government and PAS Representatives, such as help repairing the walls and roofs of houses.

Mahdzir explained that the people of Kedah who chose and voted for the leadership of PAS to lead the state certainly expect the government leadership to play an effective role in helping the poor people who need help.

“Why did the PAS leadership when campaigning in the election not mention the matter by asking the people not to ask for help from the representatives if they won.

“Why is it now that when it becomes the government after winning the election, the state government asks the poor people to stop asking for help from PAS representatives? Does that mean the state government leaders want to escape from their responsibility to the people,” he said.

The state government, added Mahdzir, needs to formulate a specific strategy to find a solution to eliminate poverty in Kedah.

“When UMNO and BN ruled before, we did put the agenda of eradicating the poverty of the people as the main agenda that needs to be implemented continuously and not on a ‘one off’ basis.

“We never said that the people should not ask for help from the UMNO and BN governments when we ruled. But the PAS government that rules today refuses to carry out the trust and responsibility of helping the poor”.

“Unlike UMNO and BN now, even though it is no longer the government in the state of Kedah, we still approach the poor by extending various help because that is the culture that has become a practice for UMNO and BN to help the people and we never complain or ask the people don’t ask for our help anymore,” he said.

Mahdzir also said that the Kedah government needs to take responsibility for carrying out efforts like those implemented by the Madani Government led by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the Federal level which mobilized efforts to restructure the country’s economy post-Covid-19.

“Through the Build Malaysia Madani agenda, we see that PMX focuses a lot on efforts to eradicate urban and rural poverty, fishermen, rice farmers, rubber tappers, small traders, student groups and E-hailing workers.

Similarly, the education, agriculture, health and infrastructure sectors are given special attention”, he said.