Sabah, Sarawak ‘sidelined’ in Budget 2022, says Shafie

 

Warisan president Shafie Apdal says promises made to Sabah and Sarawak during the formation of Malaysia must be fulfilled. (Bernama pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: Sabah and Sarawak have been “sidelined” by Putrajaya in Budget 2022, according to former Sabah chief minister Shafie Apdal.

Shafie (Warisan-Semporna) told the Dewan Rakyat the community development expenditure for all Sabah and Sarawak natives only amounted to RM10 million, whereas the Orang Asli, Chinese and Indian communities were allocated RM247 million, RM200 million and RM145 million, respectively.

“Where is the justice? To achieve prosperity in this country, the government must be fair to all states. The promises made to Sabah and Sarawak in the formation of Malaysia in 1963 must be fulfilled for the benefit of all.

“Only with the fair and just distribution of wealth and resources can we ensure harmony and prosperity,” said the Warisan president.

Shafie also said development expenditure for Sabah was only RM5.2 billion and for Sarawak RM4.6 billion.

“But Sabah and Sarawak contributed RM145 billion through petroleum revenue to the federal government.

“This is a big amount but the allocation given to the two Borneo states is not even significant enough to develop the states,” he said while debating the Supply Bill 2022 in the Dewan Rakyat.

Under Budget 2022, he said, there was a proposal to increase the palm oil windfall profit levy from 1.5% to 3% for farmers in Sabah and Sarawak, to make it equal to that in the peninsula.

“I object to this because there is also a sales tax imposed by the Sabah government on the same profit,” he said, adding that there should not be double taxation.

Shafie also said the 2021 and 2022 budgets allocated a total of RM1.22 trillion to fight Covid-19 and the rakyat would have expected a better return on investment.

But the Nikkei Covid-19 recovery index showed Malaysia was at 102nd position, he said, compared to Indonesia (54) and Singapore (70). He said the two neighbouring nations had achieved this despite not announcing record high budgets.

He asked Putrajaya to reveal the savings of the other ministries not as severely affected by the lockdowns.

On the national debt, Shafie noted that the debt-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio had increased to 65% this year, while debts to GDP in five Asean countries remained much lower. These countries were Indonesia (41%), the Philippines (52%), Thailand (48%) and Vietnam (37%).

“Malaysia has so far reached 62%, which makes it the country with the highest debt among developing countries in Asean,” he said.

The Semporna MP also criticised the mismanagement of finances, revealed in the Auditor-General’s Report for April 2020, where RM620 million was lost with various public projects not properly run.

He also proposed a luxury tax on super luxury cars, yachts, personal jets and high-value gold items to increase the government’s revenue and reduce deficit which will hit RM100 billion in 2022.

Overall, he said, the budget was a disappointment as the country’s debt was set to increase without any focus on ways to spur economic growth after the Covid-19 crisis. - FMT