Dompok: Implementation unit should employ more local officers

NSTP

Tan Sri Bernard Dompok says the ICU is unfamiliar with the business playing field of the Kadazandusuns and Dayaks

MIRI: More officers from Sabah and Sarawak must be appointed to the Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) in the Prime Minister's Department to better address development issues faced by Kadazandusuns and Dayaks, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said on Saturday.

The minister in the Prime Minister's Department said the unit had not been doing much to help the two major tribes, especially in business development, because of the officers' lack of understanding about issues in the two states.

"They're not familiar yet with the business playing field of the Kadazandusuns and Dayaks."

The minister was speaking at a joint Gawai Dayak and Tadau Kaamatan Festival hosted by the Dayak Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Kadazandusun Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Dompok said the mission by the two chambers to promote successful enterprises among Kadazandusuns and Dayaks was crucial to realise national goals -- to ensure no race lags behind as the country progressed.
With reference to issues raised by the chambers' members of not being given a "level playing field" to compete in business at national level, he said they should raise this and be heard at federal level.

"They talked about their playing field being full of potholes and no one should be blamed for raising it up. To me, as a minister, it is music to my ears as I could bring it up with our prime minister," he said.

Meanwhile, Dayak Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Tan Sri Leo Moggie said assistance for Dayaks and Kadazandusuns in business ventures had become more acute with the surge in fuel prices and materials.

He said the government should consider reviewing contracts awarded to Dayak and Kadazandusun entrepreneurs who were facing financial difficulties because of market pressure and who risked abandoning their projects.

Kadazandusun Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Frederick Lojingki said members should also take stock of the situation following expectations that the economic growth would slow down in the next few months. -- Bernama