Will Najib show his gratitude to Borneo?

Last year's budget announcement was a painful revelation of what the federal leaders thought about Borneo. Will this year be different?

KUCHING: Hours away from the Budget 2014 announcement, there is continued skepticism and wonder over how grateful Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak will be to Sabah and Sarawak.

Random checks with grassroots leaders from both sides of the political fence drew guarded views and outright skepticism.

Enthusiasm in Sabah and Sarawak is running at an all time low mostly due to Najib’s (mis)handling of the Allah issue and his refusal to censor Umno lackeys and ‘ultras’ and his policy inconsistencies.

Many also cited last year’s budget which left the two Borneo states on the sidelines.

The question now is will Najib keep his election promises to Sabah and Sarawak?

The needs, challenges and issues in these two states far outweigh those of developed and ‘high’ income driven peninsular.

In the last budget, Najib’s backroom boys appeared to have used a blanket measure which left Borneo in distaste.

Despite this, Sabah and Sarawak returned Najib and Barisan Nasional to Putrajaya in the 13th general election with their 47 parliamentary seats.

Najib’s gratitude was visible when he appointed an unprecedented 21 MPs to positions in his Cabinet.

Will this bigger Borneo contingent translate into better insights and allocations for Sabah and Sarawak?

Here too skepticism prevails depending on who one talks too.

Last year’s budget offered nothing specific to directly alleviate the hardship or improve the quality of life for the ordinary Sabahans and Sarawakians.

Nothing ‘friendly’ for Borneo

Instead of lifting the crippling 1980 cabotage policy, Najib announced a price uniformity scheme to neutralise costs differences between consumer products in West and East Malaysia.

The cabotage policy has been a bane to Sabah and Sarawak where the prices of essentials good are generally higher compared to the peninsular Malaysia due to high cost of delivery and distribution.

Najib’s ‘people friendly budget’ budget last year offered instead 57 new Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia stores in Borneo and Labuan.

He announced a discount on ferry charges for those who commute daily by ferry from Labuan to Sabah and Sarawak.

He allocated RM300 million under the 1Malaysian Development Berhad Trust for education grants and financial assistance to build rumah arau for pre-school students in the interior of Sarawak and 1Malaysia Mobile Clinic and repair houses for the poor and needy.

And RM100 million for 40,000 water tanks for rainwater harvesting in the interiors of Sabah and Sarawak.

In the run-up to the recent general election, the premier promised allocations for roads and bridges in Borneo but two months later local ministers disclosed that “talk” was not followed through by much needed letters to realise these projects.

Najib’s track record of silence on key issues such as the Allah debacle and his backtrack on past policy announcements are being weighed against his latest promise made on Oct 21 at the PBS convention.

Najib said the federal government would continue to give “utmost” consideration to Sabah’s request for increased allocations especially for infrastructure development.

“It’s all there in the budget which I will present on Friday (today).

“Sabah need not worry because the federal government will ensure that no party is left out or feel left out of mainstream development,” he had said

But Najib has always said “no party will be left behind” but invariably each year its Borneo and her people that are sidelined.

Will Budget 2014 be any different?