Pending assemblyperson Violet Yong said Foo should go through proper channels for official information instead of demanding answers through the press and social media.
“I believe it’s more proper for him to go through his own leaders and write to the finance ministry for the information he needs.
“I hope he can get some guidelines from his leaders before posing questions blindly through the press or social media and embarrassing himself.
“However, I cannot blame Foo because he lacks experience. I hope he will seek help from his leaders on how to go about getting official information,” she said at a press conference here today.
Yong said in politics, they must ensure that whatever they did would benefit the rakyat and not merely raise issues for their own political mileage.
In a Facebook post on May 29, Yong had uploaded details of federal projects in Sarawak.
“Read for yourself the details of the 569 Pakatan Harapan federal projects in Sarawak for 2019.
“Total project cost is RM41 billion. This year’s allocation to carry out these projects is RM4.3 billion.
“Only Sarawak GPS supporters and cyber troopers don’t feel happy about it,” she said, referring to Gabungan Parti Sarawak governing the state.
Her post had received both positive and negative feedback from netizens, including one who said: “It’s the responsibility of the federal government (to carry out projects) anyway.
“During the Barisan Nasional (BN) government also had projects, aunty Pending. Please provide details of the projects as well; don’t just show the figures.
“This seems like more of your manifesto. How about the last election manifesto? You forgot already?”
Some netizens even doubt the source of the details, saying: “Aku pun pandai buat data pakai Microsoft Word. (I’m also capable of coming up with a data using Microsoft Word).”
On May 30, Foo, in his Facebook post, questioned Yong on the amount of allocations received in the Pending constituency from the federal government for development projects.
He also questioned the number of development projects from the previous government, which were continued by the PH government, as well as the newly-approved ones.
Foo also urged DAP to be more transparent and provide clearer details of the development projects in Sarawak.
Yong said Foo should not question the amount of allocations for only certain areas, such as Pending, because the figures are for the whole state.
She also said the details of the development projects in Sarawak are genuine and are sourced from the finance ministry.
“These figures are not made up by me or DAP,” she said, adding that there are 569 approved federal projects in Sarawak, involving a cost of RM41 billion.
She said this year alone, the total allocation by the federal government for development projects in Sarawak is worth RM4.3 billion, which is the second highest in Malaysia.
“There are certain projects that cannot be carried out within a year and are carried out in stages. We cannot provide lump sum allocations.
“For the record, this is only the cost of development projects and not inclusive of the allocations for operational purposes,” she said.