In a press conference, Chong said the PH administration had never cancelled Phase 2 of the Pan Borneo Highway as claimed by Fadillah.

“That is a lie. When PH was in the federal government, the development fund for Sarawak did not even decrease, but had increased.

“Even for the Pan Borneo Highway, we only terminated the middleman, but the project continued.

“By doing that, we saved RM3 billion, which was specifically put into developing Sarawak. We then started another project, the Trans Borneo Highway, in the northern Sarawak area,” he said.

The Sarawak DAP chief alleged that the middleman’s service in the highway project was terminated because he had political links.

“PH always pursued greater transparency and implemented an open tender process for any project.”

Yesterday, Fadillah, a Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) senior vice-president, said GPS was part of the current Barisan Nasional (BN) government in order to safeguard harmony and religious tolerance in Sarawak.

“GPS will never forget how PH had sought to delay the development of the Pan Borneo Highway, including cancelling Phase 2 of the highway, the cancellation of three bridges, the denial of the budgeted RM1 billion funds to repair schools in Sarawak and the broken promises of 20% in oil royalty to be returned to Sarawak which forced the GPS government to impose sales tax on Petronas,” the works minister said.

Chong also urged Sarawakians not to judge PH by its 22 months in power in Putrajaya, compared with the over 50 years that BN had ruled Sarawak.

While acknowledging the presence of other parties like Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) who are going up against GPS, the Padungan candidate urged voters to back the “genuine and true” opposition.

“PH parties have a long-established history. Win or lose, we are here to speak up for the people and to fight for their rights,” he said.