KUANTAN: The accusations spread by the opposition about the Kuantan Malaysia-China Industrial Park (MCKIP) project was aimed at instilling hate against the Barisan Nasional (BN) government among the people.
BN candidate for Indera Mahkota parliament constituency, Datuk Dr Johan Mat Sah, said slanderous remarks by the opposition including on the government quota for the staff and economic gains from the investment was confusing the public.
This, he said, has caused some people to reject the project as they were being misled by the opposition.
To address this, Dr Johan, along with the Village Development and Safety Committee (JKKK) in the district, would be carrying out series of site visits at MCKIP to improve the public perception.
“On April 16, we have visited MCKIP project site and attended a briefing conducted by representatives of the East Coast Economic Region (ECER), MCKIP and Alliance Steel.
“We found that there was a surau, a mamak eatery and a Muslim sundry shop there. Claims that the area was monopolised by Chinese nationals are untrue,” he told NSTP today.
Dr Johan, who is also known as ‘doktor rakyat’ (the people’s doctor), said accusations spread by the opposition in social media, including those claiming that only those from China were hired for the project were baseless.
“Some 19,000 jobs were created by the project, of which 70 per cent of them would be filled by locals, based on the quota set by the government.
“Currently, a total of 1,500 Malaysians are working there and there are 2,000 vacancies of various posts.
“Claims by the opposition that MCKIP was monopolised by Chinese nationals probably stemmed from the initial operations during the construction of the factories that employed the foreign workforce.
“A total of 1,091 workers from China that were involved with the construction process would return home once it is completed,” he said.
He said the welfare of the workers was not neglected as there were flats and dining hall provided for them.
“We will use the campaign period to improve public awareness on the project,” he said, adding that MCKIP would attract RM30 billion in investments.