BN leaders chide Mong over aid denied

Sarawak's assistant agriculture minister Mong Dagang has received flak from his BN colleagues for instructing that the Agricultural Department to stop providing subsidies to a pro-opposition disabled farmer.

Kota Belud MP Abdul Rahman Dahlan, who initially suspected the directive signed by Mong was fake, said on microblogging site Twitter today that the act was "old politics" and "wrong".

"Mong (left) was wrong. He should retract the letter. That was so old politics. Aid to the poor and OKUs must be beyond political affiliations," Rahman said, using to the Malay acronym for disabled.

Echoing him, Selangor Gerakan Youth chief Liew Pok Boon expressed "shock" over Mong's directive, issued in December last year.

"We are shocked and do not accept a statement like this," Liew said in a statement, adding that each eligible citizen is entitled to aid, regardless of political affliations.

On Sunday, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Koh Tsu Koon said the government would not allow similar incidents to happen.

"I believe the federal government will not do things like this,' Koh said, but added that he needed to investigate the matter first.

Harassment will scare off donors

On the other side of the divide, PKR's Selayang MP William Leong called for an end to the harassment of opposition supporters.

Leong said such harassment would scare donors from funding opposition political parties, if their identity was to be disclosed as per the proposed regulation on political funding.

 "Although... advocated by political finance experts, such disclosure is subject to the important caveat that the Election Commission, police, prosecution, judiciary and civil servants are independent and impartial.

"Such regulation for disclosure will only lead to abuse and retribution against opposition supporters in regimes that do not practise and uphold democratic principles," Leong added in a statement.

Mong had yesterday admitted that he did sign the letter instructing that no farming subsidies be given to Frusis Lebi (above), on account that he is an opposition supporter.