Bintulu Member of Parliament, Dato' Seri Tiong King Sing said community
leaders had been entrusted by the government to explain the policies and
programmes of development initiated by the government to enhance the living
standard of the people under their respective charges.

"At the same time, the decisions and opinions made by the community leaders
are those derived after hearing the voice of the people at the grassroot and
they will present it to the government who then will implement a
development programme that took into account the wellbeing of the people,"
he added.

Speaking at a Friday night civic assembly organised by the District
Information Services Department at Rh Madel, about 30 kilometres from here,
he said the people should never contempt the decision made by the community
leaders who would focus in details before making their decisions.

"Community leaders of a substantiated stature could also sit as a native
court judge of which all his decision made in that capacity had to be
respected by all parties involved in any matter brought up to such court,"
he added.

Apart from merely becoming a referencing authority for marriages and family
affairs, he added that the community leaders are also empowered to listen to
grudges that concern improper implementation of development programmes in
their areas.

As such, he urged the rural people to consult and heed the opinions of their
community leaders rather than to jump into taking short-term gain offered by
irresponsible people who only care about profits and not taking any
consideration to their long term wellbeings.

He lamented that there had been a number of people in the rural here who had
fallen prey to the tactics employed by certain private companies merely to
enable for any works that they wanted to do to proceed without
interruptions.

The people could not have been hoodwinked by such a tactic if they reported
the matter to their respective community leaders who could have been given
them a wise advice to avoid from being fallen to such trap.

The people who took the bait and later realised that the deal had only
caused them to lose their rights for their properties eventually resorted to
indiscriminately blaming the government for their fate.

"The attitude has to change. The government had never intended to implement
any development programme that could jeopardize the livelihood of the people
who really wanted to change their life for the better," said Tiong.

He was also saddened to note that the affected people, thinking that they
knew their rights and what they are doing, resorted to legal actions and
upon the legal authority delivering a ruling against their favour, started
to turn against the government.

"As I have always said, when we got a problem we should sit down, talk and
negotiate to reach an amicable solutions. However, if you decided to bring
the matter to the court and the court made its decision, I as a Member of
Parliament would also have to respect the decision," he added.