Sarawak Opposition Leader upset over 'rubbish bin' remark

Sarawak Opposition Leader Wong Ho Leng took exception to a remark made by Land Development Minister James Masing that the Barisan Nasional would have to prepare a bigger “rubbish bin” for the “rubbish” that the opposition state assemblypersons would throw in the state legislative assembly meeting which starts today.

Masing (right), who is also Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president, said the increased number of the opposition state assemblypersons after the recent state election meant that the BN had to prepare a bigger rubbish bin for them.

“I do not know how much rubbish they are going to throw around so we have to prepare a bigger rubbish bin for them.

“To me, the DAP is full of fury, signifying nothing, that's what they are good at,” he said today.

There are 16 opposition lawmakers, of whom 12 are from DAP, three from PKR and one Independent.

An upset Wong, who is also the Bukit Assek State Assemblyperson, said the minister had no class to come up with the remark against the opposition.

“He said we spoke rubbish and that the BN has prepared a rubbish bin for us, I think that minister has no class, he is very base, not a gentleman and is unfit to remain as a minister.

“I think if, only if, Taib Mahmud has class as chief minister of Sarawak, he should immediately replace the minister. You cannot allow a cabinet member to utter words like that,” Wong (left) said after the swearing-in ceremony of the 71 state assemblypersons before the speaker Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar.

He said Masing had not heard what the opposition was going to say, and yet he already talked about “rubbish” against the opposition.

He said if Taib is going to be serious in making Sarawak a state of integrity, he should immediately replace Masing in the state cabinet.

“Whether the minister (Masing) has class or not, we will soon see in the manner in which he is going to table the Land Custody and Development Authority (Amendment) Bill.


“Let us see who is going to prepare a big rubbish bin and who is going to be thrown into the bin later,” he said, adding that he is sure that the rubbish would come from the minister.

'Opposition not inviting trouble'

On statements made by Taib that the BN is prepared and is not scared to face the opposition's challenges in the state legislative assembly, Wong said the opposition is not inviting trouble in the august House.

“We are going to do what we have to do as the voices of the rakyat, and to say that we are not afraid of you and you are afraid of me, I say this is complete garbage.

“We are neither afraid of them, despite the fact tehre are only 15 of us and they are 55 of them, and I don't want them to say that they are not afraid of me,” he said.

Although there are no level playing fields in the state assembly, he said the opposition will try its utmost to make sure that the opposition's voices are heard.

“They have spent three days training (making preparation against the opposition) and yet, they say that they are not afraid of us, while the DAP and PKR did not spend a single minute together and to get ourselves trained up and to come with strategies to tackle the BN,” he said.

He said the opposition knows how to tackle the BN so there is no need to go for training or attending a political course as what the BN has done.

“Our issues are of the people, and not about the BN state assemblypersons,” he said.

Wong suspected that there must be something that the BN state assemblypersons wanted to protect and that was why they had to attend the training course just for the purpose of countering the opposition's onslaughts.

“Therefore, I think that the very people who said that they are not scared of you are in fact scared of you,” he added.

Wong said he expected a lot of interruptions from the BN members the moment they heard the word “corruption” from the opposition during the debate on the Yang di-Pertua Negeri's address later.

“They are expected to create havoc and to make sure that you sit down,” he said, adding that such interruptions are part and parcel of the game.

He said the DAP and PKR are all ready for the interruptions.

“But let us hope that we are not going to be thrown out. Let us hope that they respect protocol, rules and orders in the state assembly,” he added, expressing hope that the BN would not table a motion to suspend the opposition members as in the past sittings.

“From the DAP side, I urge my charges to make sure that we remain humble as servants of the rakyat, and to speak on issues which are necessary to speak about. In other words, the plight of the people must be brought up into the Dewan and that be resolved by the government,” he said.