Many things need to be done, says PMKOTA KINABALU:
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi remains a hardworking leader 100 days after the General Election. “This means this is my second term as the Prime Minister. I am still working. There are many things that need to be done. “There are several items in the 2004 Manifesto which have yet to be implemented as well as the recent election manifests. What is more important is for efforts to be improved and to understand the current challenges, namely the fuel prices increase which will have some chain effects on other products,” he said during a press conference after officially closing the two- day Chief Executive Officers Conference 2008 here yesterday. Abdullah said the issues would be looked into based on priorities and many development projects should be implemented. He said the recent fuel prices increase was not meant to burden the people. “Every measure taken has its own rationale. We will accept any ideas from the people to help us improve the situation. In fact, I have received many letters to advise the Government on certain things and I accept them openly. This shows people are responding positively and are willing to help the Government,” he said. Abdullah stressed that the Government has limited funding but it has to overcome the current situation following the fuel prices hike. “We cannot use 100 percent of the revenue from petroleum to provide subsidies because we have to leave some for the development as well. When we provide entirely for subsidies, it would mean lower fuel prices but it would be at the expense of our development projects. We cannot do so because we need development in our country,” he said.
