KOTA KINABALU: The Sarawak Premier getting pulled into the water crisis at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) is an embarrassing reflection of the Sabah government’s failure to address basic infrastructure issues, says Sabah Umno.
Its strategic communications director Datu Rosman Datu Ahir Zaman said it was a “tamparan besar” (major blow) to the credibility of the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) administration even if Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg had only unofficially raised the issue with the Higher Education Ministry.
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“This issue clearly falls under the Sabah government. Yet it is the Sarawak Premier who is helping to voice out the concerns of Sabahans, including students from Sarawak,” Rosman said in a statement on Wednesday (May 28).
Earlier, the Sarawak Premier’s Office issued a statement confirming that Abang Johari would bring the matter to the attention of Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, despite the issue falling outside his jurisdiction.
The move came after a viral open letter from Muhammad Rasul Rozmiezan, 21, a second-year sociology student at UMS from Kuching, who wrote to Abang Johari seeking help over the prolonged water supply problems.
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Rosman said the situation was at the point where students at Sabah's premier university were struggling not to pursue academic excellence, but just to get clean water.
He added that the state government’s repeated statements and temporary responses failed to offer a strategic, long-term solution.
“What has the Sabah government done beyond issuing statements? The students are still suffering, and there’s been no effective action,” he said.
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Rosman stressed that the water supply issue in Sabah is not new, and long-standing concerns have been left unresolved for years.
“The failure to ensure water access even for a key institution like UMS shows how little has been done to address the people’s most basic needs,” he said.
He added that the intervention by a leader from another state should serve as a wake-up call to the Sabah government.
“If Sabah leaders continue to fail their people, don’t be surprised when leaders from other states step up to become the voice of Sabahans,” he said.
