KUCHING: Bau District Officer Simon Japut, who is also
the Chairman of Bau district council behaves more like a ‘little napoleon’
rather than a civil servant who should be humble, courteous and be responsive
to the people’s complaints, said Mordi Bimol, a special assistant to Chong
Chieng Jen, the Kota Sentosa Assemblyman and the MP for Bandar Kuching.
“I am quite
frustrated with a statement made by Japut which appeared in a local daily regarding
complaints made by the people about poor maintenance and inefficient garbage
collection in Kpg Serikin.
“Kpg. Serikin,
which is a very popular week-end shopping centre, is also a tourist attraction,
and yet rubbish remains uncollected which is an eye-score not only to the
villagers, but also to the shoppers and tourists,” he said.
“It is giving us
a bad image,” Bimol said, pointing out that Japut refused to accept
responsibility.
“Instead he puts
the blame on those who made the complaints as politicising the whole issue,” he
said.
Last Monday Japut
had described the complaints as ‘tidak masuk akal’ (stupid) and that he would
not entertain them.
“I am firm in my
decision that I will not entertain such stupid complaints,” he added.
“The matter
should have been reported to the Bau district council first before going public
in the media as this will tarnish the name of the civil servants,” Japut said
angrily.
“And by the way,
who is this Mordi Bimol? I don’t know him,” Japut said, pointing out that the
Opposition should not politicise the issue of rubbish collection.
Responding to the
harsh words used by the District Officer, Bimol said: “Local authorities such
as council should not take any complaint made by any political party especially
opposition as a threat.
“Any political
party tries to serve the people and it is the job of the politicians to voice
out people’s complaints and problems.
“Media is one of
the channels for the public and even political parties to share the community
problems. So, local authorities should take this positively, investigate and
solve the problem.
“Instead of
saying those harsh words, he should investigate on the matter, whether it is
true or not, and solve it. I am not pointing fingers...but I just want to share
the problems and want the council to take a relevant action on the matter.
“Maybe he should
go and visit the place to see the real situation of that place,” he said.
Bimol said that
he visited Kpg Serikin last Thursday, and saw the problem, and interviewed few
groups of residents.
“They are
complaining...so it is my job to help them and voice out this matter,” he said.
He noted that RM2
is collected each day since 2004 from each Indonesian who operates a stall. Roughly
there are 400 stalls operating on both Saturday and Sunday in that border
village.
“Counting on the
amount of money collected for eight years, residents of Kpg Serikin are very
frustrated with the poor service provided by the council.
“They should
improve their efficiency to service the people as efficient as they collect the
money.
“According to
the residents, the garbage collection supposed to be twice a week (Monday and
Friday). However, garbage collection is done only once a week and in fact,
sometimes only once in two weeks.
“Therefore, the
trash containers which are located at the end of that village are always full
and spill out,” he said, pointing out that “this in turn causes the problem of
bad smell and a dirty environment”.
“We are very
concerned on this matter because Kampung Serikin is one of the best tourist
attraction places in Bau which never fails to attract tourists every weekend.
“Proven as a
good tourism place, it is very important for those relevant authorities or
government agencies to work together with the residents of that village to
maintain and improve the area to keep the area clean and healthy.
“This little
problem might affect the impression of the tourists to Kpg Serikin and might jeopardize
the business of the local people.
“So, we must
work together to help them to improve whatever facilities needed,” Bimol added.
