KOTA KINABALU: Angkatan Perubahan Sabah (APS) president, Datuk Seri Wilfred Bumburing, said the hike in the price of RON95 petrol and diesel will push up the cost of essential goods and services in Sabah.
He said small-scale businesses will be badly affected and, eventually, it is the consumers, especially those in the rural areas who will have to bear the increasing cost of those essential goods.
He added that the government might have the BR1M scheme in their mind to help out the people but this scheme is only a temporary measure.
“Even businessmen and other retailers in the rural areas who will find it hard to make ends meet are forwarding their grouses to me. I would have hoped that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government would spare Sabah from these unnecessary fuel price increase as it would not be logical for the people of Sabah to be burdened with such increase being the major oil producing state in the country,” said Bumburing.
On the the electricity supply issue, Bumburing, who is also the Tamparuli assemblyman, urged the government not to delay or halt the infrastructure development in Sabah as promised prior to the May 5 general election (GE13).
He reckoned that electricity supply to the rural areas and improvement on the supply in all major towns in Sabah should be made the BN government’s top priority.
“I remember the former Minister of Energy in charge of electricity had promised to solve the electricity problem in Sabah within three months after the GE13. However, the new Minister appointed after the GE13 have stated that it needs at least three years for the government to solve the electricity problem in Sabah,” said Bumburing.