Sarawak Minister of Public Health and Environment Wong Soon Koh was condemned today for saying that the government would not allocate funds for Opposition-held areas in the state.

chong chieng jen interview 141108 03"No one should be victimised for voting Opposition candidates in any election," Sarawak DAP secretary Chong Chieng Jen (left) said in his daily press conference.

"Wong's statement was absolutely absurd, even tantamount to abuse of power and a threat against the people."

Chong, who is also the Bandar Kuching member of Parliament, said Wong's statement could also be likened to denying the people of their constitutional right of who they wanted to vote for in an election.

"There should not be any form of victimisation for voting the Opposition," he stated.

Wong, who is also the Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) deputy secretary-general, had said that the government would not allocate funds to build a sports stadium in Sibu as it was under DAP.

Wong's statement was widely reported by the Chinese Press in Sarawak.

Sarawak DAP chairman Wong Ho Leng was elected the Sibu member of Parliament in a by-election last May, beating Robert Lau of SUPP.

Chong alleged that SUPP had neglected to provide development funds to Sibu which was under its control for many years.

"The people rejected SUPP in the May 2010 by-election because the party had failed to develop Sibu," he said, adding that the so-called ‘no funds for DAP-held areas' was an excuse to cover SUPP's gross negligence to develop Sibu.

Chong said it was not true that no development funds had been allocated to the Opposition-held areas as claimed by the SUPP leader.

Citing an example, he said the government had allocated substantial amount of funds for Bandar Kuching which DAP won in 2008.

He said in 2008, about RM150 million was allocated for Bandar Kuching, RM165 million in 2009 and RM152 million last year.

In comparison, the nearby parliamentary constituency for Stampin, which is under SUPP, was allocated RM194 million in 2008, RM140 million in 2009 and RM103 million last year, he said.

"This goes to show that the government has allocations for Opposition-held areas and in fact, the government is paying more attention to the DAP areas as could be seen by the increasing yearly allocations," he added.