The state Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government is always ready to cooperate with the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, reiterated Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg (above).

Abang Johari, who is also GPS chairman, said such cooperation was in the overall interest of the state’s development and progress.

"But if their policies are bad for us, we will fight," he said at a Leaders-with-People session at the Spaoh community hall, which was also attended by his deputy Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas and other state ministers.

Nevertheless, Abang Johari said Sarawak was best ruled by local leaders from local-based parties, adding that the GPS government's policy was always to prioritise Sarawak and its people

"In this way, we can work out and implement our own development policies and plans with minimum interference,” he said.

On his two-day visit to Betong Division, Abang Johari said it was to see problems on the ground in efforts to serve the people well.

He said Betong had great potential for modern agriculture and the government would develop all the necessary infrastructure, including an airport near Spaoh and enhancing the digital infrastructure where 39 telecommunications towers would be built for better connectivity.

Later, the chief minister also visited Luban Ulu, where he performed the groundbreaking ceremony for a telecommunications tower, costing about RM1 million, a project of the Sarawak Multimedia Authority.

Abang Johari said the state government planned to build 300 such towers statewide this year at a cost of RM1 billion and another 300 next year.

- Bernama