DAP man slams SUPP sec-gen for being ‘insensitive’ about Triso ferry tragedy

KUCHING: A Democratic Action Party ( DAP) Youth leader has accused Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Youth secretarygeneral Milton Foo of being insensitive in commenting about the recent Triso ferry jetty tragedy.

Michael Kong, who is special assistant to Stampin MP and DAP Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen, slams Foo for ‘playing politics when instead, he (Foo) should have shown more respect for the victims and their families’.

“For him (Foo) to blame DAP for the incident is tantamount to the government blaming the opposition for any lack of development.

“Whether PH (Pakatan Harapan) did cancel the allocation for the (proposed Batang Lupar) bridge, it’s only the words of the GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak).

“The allocation was never there to begin with. The Barisan Nasional (BN) had, throughout the past 57 years, made so many promises that remained unfulfilled; the Batang Lupar bridge (project) was just one of many of such promises,” said Kong in a statement yesterday.

He said with respect to facilities such as ferry services, he observed that there was ‘a constant, clear neglect of safety measures and implementation by the relevant authorities’.

In this regard, he described the blame being put on the opposition as ‘the most ridiculous accusation and also an excuse that one could think of’.

“There’s no end if one chose to play the blame game.

“This would also result in time being wasted on bickering, when such time and effort should be focused entirely on finding the cause of the problem and also finding the solution to ensure that no such incident would ever occur again in the future,” stressed Kong.

In a statement released on

Sunday, Foo said the previous cancellation of Batang Lupar bridge project was indicative of the dismissive attitude of the short-lived PH-led federal administration towards Sarawak and its interests.

He added that the proposed Batang Lupar bridge was among a couple of alreadyapproved bridge projects that were cancelled by PH after the coalition took over Putrajaya from BN after the 2018 general election.

In a recent statement, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing had said that despite the cancellation of the bridge project by the previous PH-led federal government, the construction of the RM848million Batang Lupar bridge had already begun following its takeover by the Sarawak government.

Adding on, Masing said the project was approved and funded wholly by the Sarawak government.