SABAK BERNAM, 27 Apr: About 200 residents in Kampung Bagan Parit Baru Baroh are disappointed with Umno-BN’s attitude of ignoring infrastructural development in the village which has existed since the 1970s.
A resident, Ng Tiam Chai, 44, who was met by a reporter from Selangor Kini said that the elected Umno-BN representative never went down to the ground to witness the poverty in the fishing village.
He said that the difficulties of the residents are coupled with the old wooden walkways with high risk of collapsing any time.
He hopes that the newly elected representative will repair the walkway with concrete to make it stronger and safer for residents.
Thus, he and the residents resolve to give support to candidates from Pakatan Rakyat (PR) in the 13th General Election (GE-13) to be defended.
In the meantime, the sufferings of the residents got the attention of the Pakatan Rakyat Candidate for Sabak Bernam Parliament, Dr Abdul Aziz Bari and the Sungai Air Tawar State Legislative Assembly (DUN) candidate, Wahid Rais who went down to meet the people there.
“In the absence of a credible representative in the area, the residents here are like ‘chicks without a mother’ as they have no place to seek protection,” said Dr Aziz.
Dr Aziz added that he will address the problems faced by villagers at the federal level where there are greater development funds.
“It involves the Ministry of Agriculture and several other agencies, therefore half of this infrastructure development does not involve the state’s jurisdiction.
“That is why Pakatan Rakyat wants to be a government at the central level so that problems like this can be resolved,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Sungai Air Tawar DUN candidate, Wahid Rais said that he was somewhat surprised with the poor condition of the infrastructure in the village which he describes as neglect from appropriate development.