Max should quit: DAP

Kota Kinabalu: DAP Sabah has called for the resignation of Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili as MP for Kota Marudu for having "failed miserably not only his people, but also his party and the Barisan Nasional (BN) government".

DAP Sabah Chief Jimmy Wong said the remarks by Dr Maximus concerning the plight of widow Rosnia @ Annie Maramal and her three children who are residing in Kg Kandawayon, Matunggung, in his constituency, were astonishing.

He said the family's case caused the Prime Minister's wife Datuk Rosmah Mansur to pass around the hat and collect RM2,500. Rosnia and her kids had been staying in a dilapidated shack the past three years.

Wong said Dr Maximus' dare to the opposition to build new homes for other hardcore poor households in his constituency was "unbecoming of a very intelligent, highly educated and long-serving politician who is also currently the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation".

Wong said Dr Maximus had bragged about the few houses he built and repaired in his constituency. "His confession of inadequate funding to assist all the hardcore poor in Kota Marudu is most welcome as the people can now see for themselves that BN has no money to develop Sabah.

"We have been asked to show proof that the government has no money and here it comes. We must now ask where are the billions of ringgit in allocation that the Chief Minister kept on harping in the press."

Wong said it was now apt for Musa to request from the Federal Government 20 per cent for oil royalty so that Sabah will have constant and uninterrupted funding.

DAP Sabah also asked Dr Maximus who spent too much time in Kuala Lumpur to at least visit Penang and learn how the DAP-Pakatan Rakyat government is tackling the problem of poverty.

"Just under three years after assuming power, the Penang government has eradicated poverty. With the knowledge gained in Penang, he can easily resolve the poverty problem in his areas as well as the reported 45,162 poor households in a few months.

"We assure Dr Maximus that once Pakatan Rakyat forms the government in Sabah this problem of poverty will be resolved quickly," he said.

Meanwhile, a veteran political activist, Fredoline Edwin Lojingki, said the way Dr Maximus responded to the issue was unacceptable.

"Maximus is sore at problems being exposed in his constituency.

And Maximus is displaying maximum arrogance by challenging an opposition leader to build even more houses for the poor in Kota Marudu.

"As a veteran of 70 years, Maximus is failing the supporters of PBS as well as Barisan Nasional. Only an arrogant person or leader that would not need a good Public Relations way of tackling sensitive issue like this," he said in a statement.

"Did Maximus remember how many houses he and PBS built when they were in opposition?

Is Maximus telling the rakyat jelata that it was his own money and not the people's money that he spent to build the 90 houses?

"I'm quite sure Christina Liew used her own money or perhaps her friends when she helped the poor Marambal family in Matunggong," he said.

"He should build 10,000 houses or even more for the poor families in Sabah alone," he said, adding are were many more Marambals throughout Sabaht.

"We have the opposition and the media to thank for exposing problem like the one in Matunggong which is of course just the tip of the iceberg," he said.