Najib says Sabah now richer than Kelantan

(The Malasysian Insider) - Resource-rich Sabah has lifted itself off the bottom rung and relegated Kelantan to being the nation’s poorest state, Datuk Seri Najib Razak was reported as saying by The Star today.

“Sabah is now a state with so much potential,” the prime minister was quoted as saying during the launch of the Mini Estet Sejahtera (Masej) scheme near Lahad Datu.

According to Najib, per capita income in the East Malaysian state has crept past Kelantan and was almost on par with the national average.

He further noted that the number of households categorised as hardcore poor has been reduced to 7,000 now, down from 30,000 previously. The report did not specify the exact time period.

The prime minister credited the economic progress to federal-state co-operation, and pointed to the Masej as an example of such efforts.

Masej was funded using RM22 million from Felda, which is on top of another RM50 million the land authority had provided to Sabah.

Sabah has languished at the foot of Malaysia’s prosperity ladder despite its natural resources, primarily oil and gas.

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(The Star) - Sabah, which for the most parts was governed by the Barisan Nasional (BN), experienced major changes in its development and economic landscape since it attained independence through Malaysia in 1963, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He said Sabah was no longer the poorest state in the country and in fact had huge potential to surge forward.

"Then (in 1963) probably more that 70 per cent of the people could be said to be poor, hardcore poor and destitute. However, Sabah now is no longer the poorest state in the country.

"According to statistics, the average per capita income of Sabah now lies in the middle when compared to the richest and poorest states," he said during a visit here.

Najib said this was the outcome of the national development agenda which was clear and effective and now included the National Transformation Programme that would bring about a brighter future for the people.

"We launched the National Transformation Programme because we wanted to change everything, like this Kampung Nala (which previously was only a mangrove swamp)," Najib said.

"We will not stop here...we will continue until we completely eradicate hardcore poverty. Before, there were about 30,000 people in Sabah who were poor but now there are only about 7,000 (still poor)," he said.

Najib said although there were some people who were still poor, the success of the BN government in tackling poverty could not be understated.