Najib rallies Kelantan to embark on major change
GUA MUSANG: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak rallied the people of Kelantan Friday to rise in a united front and embark on a major change towards a better life and rapid development for the state. He said the people of Kelantan should give Barisan Nasional the opportunity to make the change, saying that the state had been lagging behind all this while.
“God willing, give Barisan a chance and we will embark on a major change; we will resolve the water woes and fulfil various other requirements, including the need for more roads,” he said at the state-level 1Malaysia Community Carnival at Civic Centre, here Friday.
Najib said that the spirit towards change should be ignited from now, including among those wearing the red shirts, which symbolised Kelantan Umno’s determination to wrest back Kelantan from PAS.
“From a gathering like what we have here, we shall march forward; we know it won’t be easy but I concur with the ‘dikir barat’ performance just now that, ‘let’s try and give (Barisan) a term’. I’m confident that a major change will take place,” he said.
To this end, Najib called on the people of Kelantan to strive towards change, stressing that the federal government cared for them and had been striving to bring development to the state. In Gua Musang, Najib said the Government had approved the construction of 1,000 units of houses under the People’s Housing Programme and 350 units under the Agropolitan project, as well as RM3mil of allocation to assist the Orang Asli community to venture into agarwood farming.
Earlier, Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah requested that the federal government build a highway connecting Kota Baru, Kuala Krai, Gua Musang, Bentong, Karak and Kuala Lumpur. He said the highway would ease the severe traffic congestion, particularly during festive season or school holiday, in view of the fact that there were about 400,000 Kelantanese working outside the state.
He said the highway, like those built in the west coast of the peninsula, would serve as a catalyst for economic growth in the state as well as other states in the east coast. It would also spur the setting up of other facilities, including institutions of higher learning as Ulu Kelantan still had a vast tract of land, he said.
Tengku Razaleigh also spoke about the role played by the nation’s forefathers including Najib’s father, the late Tun Abdul Razak who was Malaysia’s second prime minister, in developing the Ulu Kelantan area through the setting up of the Kelantan South Development Authority or Kesedar and opening up of settlements.
Among those present at the event were Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim, International Trade and Industry Minister
- The Star online
