He said this was the reason he had been unable to fulfil the promises he made during his campaign for re-election in 2013. By that time he had left Umno and joined PKR.
Lajim’s inability to fulfil his promises has been used as ammunition against him by his political rivals. According to Beaufort Umno, many of the 15,000 voters in Klias have openly voiced out their regret in voting for Lajim, even accusing him of cheating them.
Meanwhile, other opposition parties, including PKR, which he quit in 2016, have been accusing Lajim of being a BN-friendly opposition man, a label he said he resented.
Klias lies within the parliamentary constituency of Beaufort. Lajim was first elected to the seat in 1986 and has held on to it since.
Speaking to FMT, he claimed he was instrumental in transforming Klias from a poverty stricken backwater into a thriving community.
He said Klias had no infrastructure to speak of when he started serving there. Since then, he added, there had been a “tremendous” amount of development, with abandoned land being converted to oil palm and rubber plantations to provide villagers with sustainable incomes.
He gave the example of Kampung Kobulu, a village about 15km from Beaufort town.
“I started to open lands in the village in 1985 because I wanted to bring the people out of poverty,” he said. “I’m happy to say that this effort has not gone to waste because 80% of the villagers now are successful. They own big cars, live in big houses and are able to send their children to university.
“And this is not the only success story. There are many others. In areas where oil palm is not suitable, such as in Halogilat, we planted rubber trees and built roads for the people to make it easier for them to transport their products to town.”
Before he left Barisan Nasional in July 2012, Lajim served the government in various capacities, including as deputy chief minister and federal deputy minister for housing and local government.
He said he still had a lot of work to do for the people of Klias and lamented that the government had chosen not to undertake high-impact projects that could add value to the local economy.
He said the neglect could have been the BN’s retaliation against voters who re-elected him in 2013.
Noting that chief minister Musa Aman had promised not to sideline opposition areas, he said it was now up to Beaufort MP Azizah Mohd Dun to ensure the provision of development funds for Klias.
Recalling the pledges he made during the 2013 campaign, he said: “We promised to continue with development programmes in Klias, not just in terms of infrastructure, but also in the creation of new economies through land and industrial development.
“When we form the state government, we will keep these promises.”