Hajiji confident Sabah no problem, urges bigger mandate for PM

Tuaran: Prime Minister and BN Chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak deserves to be given a chance to continue leading the government and country after the next general election.

Sabah BN and Umno treasurer Datuk Hj Hajiji Hj Noor said Malaysians must remember that Najib who was then Deputy PM took over from his predecessor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi only about a year after the last general election of March 2008.

"Although Najib has done a wonderful job in the last three and a half years, he needs a fresh mandate of his own to carry on the good work.

"Not just an ordinary mandate, not just a simple majority, but Malaysians should give him a two-thirds majority to bring the nation to greater heights and, more importantly, achieve the aims of Vision 2020 which is only eight years away."

Hajiji also foresaw no problem in Sabah BN repeating its near-cleansweep victory of 2008 in both parliamentary and state seats in Sabah in the next general election.

"This is because Chief Minister and Sabah BN chairman Datuk Seri Musa Hj Aman has proven his sincerity and capability in bringing development and progress to Sabah and I have no doubt that he will again lead Sabah BN into another landslide victory," he said. Hajiji, who is also State Local Government and Housing Minister, was speaking at a meet-the-people session at Kampung Bintangor, Sungai Damit, Saturday.

At the function, several former Opposition, notably Pakatan, grassroot leaders from the area joined BN through Umno.

They handed over their membership application forms to Hajiji who is also Umno Tuaran Division chief.

Hajiji said he was saying this not just because Najib is now the PM, but more importantly what he has been doing since taking over from as Prime Minister.

"The achievements of Najib over the last few years are too many for me to list here. Hardly a week passes without the Prime Minister announcing something, including mammoth projects worth billions of ringgit.

"The most famous of which is of course the 1Malaysia concept which he introduced upon taking office and which today is a household catchphrase.

Even kids or school children know about it," he added.

Hajiji said 1Malaysia is not just an empty slogan, for Najib has followed it up with numerous new programmes and policies including the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).

"And of course, the BRIM payment of RM500 for Malaysians earning below RM3,000 introduced by the Prime Minister is unprecedented, not just in Malaysia but perhaps in the world. And beginning next year, we will have BRIM 2.0 so that even our younger generation can benefit.

"Even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde has given Najib a pat on the back," he said.

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Sabahans to benefit from PR1MA project

17th October, 2012
KOTA KINABALU: The 1Malaysia Public Housing project (PR1MA), which focuses on encouraging the middle-income people in major towns throughout the country to own their first house, will be built in the State.
State Minister for Local Government & Housing Datuk Hajiji Noor said the implementation of the project was still being discussed with PR1MA to determine the locations of land belonging to the government and its agencies.
“I have met PR1MA chief executive officer (Datuk Abdul Mutalib Alias) to discuss the need for affordable homes so that the middle-income group in all districts in Sabah can own a house,” he said.
Hajiji said the State government would suggest to the Federal government suitable land owned by government agencies that had not been developed so that affordable homes could be built in the State.

Read More: New Sabah Times

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Hajiji: No local government election

22nd May, 2012

KOTA KINABALU: The posts of Mayor and district councillors will be appointed and not elected. To this effect, the provisions under Section 15 of the Local Government Ordinance will be maintained.Local Government and Housing Minister, Datuk Hajiji Mohd Noor, said this to reporters after closing a five-day state level basic training for Rela Young Squad at the Sabah Rela Training Centre at Jalan Sulaman near here yesterday.He said the current law on the appointment of mayors and councilors for the local authorities and other related issues was good and applicable in Sabah.Hajiji was asked to comment on a recent statement by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng on January 18 this year that they would seek a court declaration to compel the Election Commission to conduct local government election in Penang.

“Penang is governed by the opposition and we in Sabah have never planned to reinstate the local government election,” said Hajiji.The Minister for Housing and Local Government, Datuk Seri Chor Chee Heung, had said on the same day that the Penang state government should consult the National Council on Local Government (NCLG) before issuing a gazette notification exempting the local authorities in Penang from the provisions of Section 15 of the Local Government Act 1976.Section 15 of the Act provides that all laws relating to local government elections are of no effect.Meanwhile, Hajiji said since 2010, some 2,355 multi-racial Rela members from major districts throughout the state had attended basic training at the centre.He said it was vital to nurture the young generation and prevent them from picking up foreign cultures and getting involved in social ills and unhealthy activities like drug abuse.Hajiji also said the government has targeted the young generation in efforts to bring down the crime index under the National Key Results Area (NKRA).And, according to him, the Youth and Sports Department in collaboration with Rela had launched various volunteer programmes among the youths aged between 18 and 40.“Through the various volunteer programmes, we hope the young generation can contribute to the development of the nation,” he added.Some 184 Rela members comprising 149 men and 35 women from Kota Kinabalu, Penampang and Tuaran, including those from the Industrial Training Institute (ILP), National Youth Skills Institute (IKBN), and Eastern College, completed the five-day basic training.Among those present were state Youth and Sports Department (Federal) director Mohd Dahali Hj Matsin, Rela Training Centre commander, Colonel Darman Dabang, Rela training officer, Lieutenant Colonel Laungah Kandar, Mohd Arif Masrun, representative of Rakan Muda development division of the Youth and Sports Ministry.

New Sabah Times

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Sabah sees no need for local council elections

Published on: Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Kota Kinabalu: There are no plans for the State government to have local government elections because the current system is working well.Local Government and Housing Minister, Datuk Hajiji Noor said even though there is room for improvement in the current local government administration system, there is no need for elections to change the existing structure."Penang is an opposition stateÉthe Sabah government and authorities do not have such suggestions or notion to follow suit."He said this after closing the second series of a five-day Rela Youth Squad basic training participated by a total of 184 youth at its training centre here on Monday.The Penang Legislative Assembly unanimously passed the Local Government Elections (Penang Island and Province Wellesley) Enactment 2012 on May 9.Hence, barring any legal challenges from the Barisan Nasional federal government or the Election Commission (EC), local government elections must be held in Penang within 180 days from the day the enactment has been enforced.State executive councillor in charge of local government and traffic management affairs, Padang Kota assemblyman Chow Kon Yeow had said that the state government would attempt to obtain a pre-emptive court declaration that the enactment was not ultra vires the Federal Constitution to compel the EC to conduct the local polls.On other developments, Hajiji said the Rela basic training was held to provide knowledge and experience to youth regarding the roles of Rela, as well as to let them understand and appreciate the spirit of volunteerism.He explained that youth make up of about 40.2 per cent or 11.4 million of the total population in Malaysia, hence their contribution to the country's development is significant.He pointed out that it was important to mould their characters to be someone successful and to be proud of, who can contribute to the national development from a young age."There are so many issues facing the youth, such as drug abuse, crime, uncontrolled partying and illegal racing, thus the government is taking all sorts of initiatives to tackle these problems," he said.In this respect, Sabah Rela Training Centre Commander, Colonel Rela Darman Dabang said the participants from areas such as Penampang, Kota Kinabalu, Tuaran and students from Eastern College, Institut Kemahiran Belia Negara (IKBN) and the Industrial Training Institute (ILP) were given mental and physical training the past five days."This is to train them to be more disciplined people, instill leadership, religious and cooperative values among them," he said.

Daily Express

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