Warisan: Sabah an equal partner, deserves goodies under Budget

Warisan deputy president Darell Leiking says 'big chunk' given to Sabah and Sarawak should not be used to entice voters.

KOTA KINABALU: The 2018 Budget, hailed as the “mother of all budgets” by Prime Minister Najib Razak, is just another cheap tactic designed to blindfold Sabahans with candies, said Parti Warisan Sabah.

Its deputy president, Darell Leiking, said in the first place, Sabah deserves big goodies by virtue of its position as the equal co-administrator and partner of the Federation of Malaysia.

“The prime minister should not be proud of the big chunk given to Sabah or Sarawak.

“These figures should not be used to entice Sabahans and Sarawakians to vote for BN in the general election.

“Instead, it should be seen as a reinstatement of Sabah and Sarawak rights and these funds are lawfully deserved,” he told FMT.

Under the proposed budget, Najib announced RM6.82 billion in direct funds to Sabah and Sarawak, with RM6.42 billion meant for infrastructure development.

The figures include RM2 billion for the Pan Borneo Highway, RM2 billion to rebuild and upgrade dilapidated schools, RM1 billion to develop communication infrastructure, RM500 million for construction of roads in rural areas, RM300 million to supply clean water and RM620 million for electricity supply in rural areas.

Additionally, Najib also allocated RM50 million for the purpose of surveying and mapping of customary land in Sabah and Sarawak, RM250 million to enhance safety and security control under Esscom, RM20 million under the 1Azam programme, while maintaining the RM90 million price uniformity programme for goods for Sabah and Sarawak.

Despite all these goodies, Leiking said Najib unfortunately failed again to announce a revision of the quantum of the 10th Schedule of the Federal Constitution which inter alia provided for a constitutional guarantee of two-fifths of Sabah’s net revenue collected (from Sabah) to be refunded back to Sabah as a special grant.

“The annual special grant, which has remained at RM26.7 million since 1969, to date only reaffirms that Sabah’s constitutional entitlement remains elusive and unresolved even at this juncture of our partnership in the federation,” he said.

Leiking also pointed out that Najib made no mention of actual devolution of powers from the federal government to Sabah and Sarawak.

This fact, he said, further proved that all the big announcements of “devolution” are mere lip-service.

“We are too centralised politically, administratively and economically,” he said.

English and Mandarin

The Penampang MP is further disappointed that Najib did not touch on allocations to aggressively improve the usage of English as well as other trading languages such as Mandarin for Sabah and Sarawak.

He believes that learning such languages would be able to prepare Sabah and Sarawak to be on a par with many international businesses and trades in the region.

Furthermore, he said the budget should have allocated funds to encourage districts in Sabah to go green by allocating bicycle lanes as an alternative travelling mode.

Finally, Leiking said he was saddened that Sabah’s annual Harvest Festival remained only a Sabah holiday despite the presence of Sabahans in many other parts of the country.

“Once again, the prime minister failed to announce Tadau Kaamatan as a national holiday for all.” -FMT