Kota Kinabalu: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman reminded the people in Sabah, particularly civil servants, not to be influenced by the opposition's "change the government" slogan aimed at gaining public support in the coming general election.
Dismissing the opposition's propaganda that the present government "has not brought any development" to the people, Musa who is also state Barisan Nasional (BN) Chairman, said only people who were blind and deaf would not be able to see the facts.
"Changing the government is easy...but will it bring benefits or losses to the people and the state? Everywhere, we can see development.
I am confident the people of Sabah or civil servants are mature enough and be able to judge the performance of the BN government which has brought a lot of development and helped the people in all aspects regardless of race, religion and background," he told State civil servants at the State Legislative Assembly banquet hall in Likas.
Also present were Assembly Speaker Datuk Seri Salleh Tun Said, state secretary Tan Sri Sukarti Wakiman, deputy chief ministers, state ministers, assistant ministers and department heads.
Musa also listed the successes and achievements of the BN government which has brought about a big and comprehensive change to the state's development landscape, as contained in the Auditor-General's Report, besides getting a Clean Bill consecutively for many years.
"This means Sabah is among the best financially managed states in the country," he said.
Musa said with such a strong financial position, the State Government could afford to spend billions of ringgit on various development projects in Sabah, and this year itself, the State Government could prepare a budget of more than RM4 billion.
"We give bonus and salary increase to civil servants because the Government has the means to do so. Just imagine, the government spends about RM700 million annually to pay the salaries of civil servants.
"We have a large budget and allocation for the state's development including infrastructure development such as building roads and repair of damaged roads due to landslides," he said.
Musa said although he was happy and satisfied with the state's achievements thus far, the people in the state particularly civil servants needed to work harder to achieve more success.
"We have a plan to make the Ninth Malaysia Plan and the 10th, a success.
Credit for this achievement is due to not just one person but all government leaders including civil servants who have cooperated and worked as a team to implement policy programmes planned by the state government with the assistance of the federal government.
"I admit that we have weaknesses and have still not achieved certain things but what is important is that with the cooperation between leaders and state and federal government staff, we will achieve great success," he said.
Musa said apart from that, the political stability and conducive investment climate also contributed to the state's economic development, including in the tourism and education sector.
"With aggresive promotion, we have managed to attract more tourists to the state. Similarly with investment, many foreign investors including from the United States of America and Brunei were interested to invest in the state.
"With regards to the education sector, we now have Universiti Malaysia Sabah and Yayasan Sabah College (which will be upgraded to a university college), while the Kadazandusun Murut College will be built in Tambunan," he said.
He dismissed the opposition's claim that Sabah was the poorest state in the country, and requested Universiti Malaysia Sabah and UiTM branch to carry out a study on the matter.
Musa also defended the State Government's land policy which introduced the communal title to qualified villagers, for the sake of their future.
"There is no difference between ordinary land ownership and communal ownership...only that the land under communal ownership cannot be sold.
"Based on an earlier study, there had been cases where villagers with land titles sold off their property to giant companies and then complained that they did not own any land...this we want to avoid," he said.
He noted that the state's forestry and environment policies were acknowledged by foreign countries, with Britain's royal couple (Prince William and Kate Middleton) visiting the Danum Valley forest reserve recently.
Musa said Malaysia, under the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak who had introduced various transformation programmes, was right on track to become a developed nation and the changes should be duly supported by all levels of society.
"Under the Prime Minister's transformation programmes, no group or race is marginalised...everyone will benefit and receive support accordingly," he said.
