Ramlee accuses Warisan of twisting facts on budget numbers

Sabah assistant minister Ramlee Marahaban says Warisan president Shafie Apdal’s comments on revenue comparison between the 1978 and 2017 budgets is aimed at fooling the people.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Assistant Minister of Finance Ramlee Marahaban has described Parti Warisan Sabah’s “act of twisting facts” about the state’s budget and revenues as irresponsible.

This, Ramlee claimed, was an attempt to fool the people just to gain political support.

Ramlee said it was clear the allegation that the state’s budget had remained stagnant over the past 40 years at RM4 billion made by Warisan president Shafie Apdal was wrong and could be proven with the historical records of the Sabah minister of finance archives department.

“Comparing the economic condition in 1976-1978 and now is not appropriate as the income sources are different. For example, in the 1970s and 80s, the state’s income was mainly from timber but now timber is no longer the source of income for Sabah.

“According to the official financial report, the state revenue in 1978 was RM479,027,790 and the federal grants, contributions, and reimbursements came to RM45,790,248, thus giving a total revenue of RM524,818,038 for that year,” he said, adding that the only official source of state income was the state financial report.

Ramlee, who is also Bugaya assemblyman said this in response to Warisan treasurer-general Terrence Siambun insisting that Shafie did not lie about the state’s budget in 1978.

Siambun had been reported as saying Shafie had made the remarks based on the confirmation by former Sabah accountant-general Ibrahim Menudin regarding the financial situation in 1978.

“Ibrahim was the former state’s accountant-general and obviously knows just how much the state government had back in 1978; now is Ramlee implying that he (Ibrahim) lied?” Siambun had asked.

Ramlee said: “I believe that Shafie deliberately wanted to underestimate Sabah’s revenue and the capabilities of the state leadership led by Chief Minister Musa Aman by saying there had been no increase in the states income compared with 39 years ago.

“Sabah under Musa has performed exceedingly well, whereby the state revenue grew from RM1.24 billion in 2001 to RM1.56 billion in 2003, to RM2.33 billion in 2008, to RM3.69 billion in 2012 and surpassed the RM4-billion mark at RM4.58 billion in 2014.”

According to Ramlee, the state government has changed its income-generating approach to other sectors and this had contributed to the increase in the state’s revenue.

Ramlee said the state government was no longer dependent on logging, as the government had made a policy to increase the size of permanent forests, with a target of at least 30% of the total area of Sabah covered by permanent forests by 2025.

“State financial management is transparent and orderly, therefore, the state’s financial deposits continue to grow, and now stand at RM3.74 billion compared with RM184 million in 2003.

“The increase in the state financial deposit was also contributed by the efficient financial management led by Musa as the chief minister and state finance minister who had achieved a surplus account over 16 years in a row,” said Ramlee. - Mkini