Pairin: Development needs backing

KOTA KINABALU, January 2 (The Star) -- Efforts to reduce the development imbalance between Sabah and the Peninsula require continued support from all levels of society in the state to ensure its success. 

Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan said the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) gave emphasis to efforts to overcome the imbalances between Sabah and the Peninsula as well as between rural and urban areas. 

“So, there are changes, good changes, good plans. What we need now is for the plans to be implemented. 

“Previously, the imbalances were clearly visible. That's why it is often raised in Parliament to tell the federal authority that the imbalances must be overcome,” said the Parti Bersatu Sabah president at a Christmas open house in Penampang recently. 

He said the changes planned under the 9MP should be supported and actions to overcome existing problems, including the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah, should be taken. 

Pairin said that issues related to illegal immigrants were not easy to be dealt with but it did not mean the government was not doing anything.