‘20% OIL ROYALTY, 50% TAX TO BE RETURNED TO STATE GOVT’: YOU WON’T LAG BEHIND WEST MALAYSIA ANYMORE, MAHATHIR TELLS SABAH & SARAWAK

PETALING JAYA — A Pakatan Harapan federal government would put Sabah and Sarawak back on par with the entirety of West Malaysia, said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The PH chairman said the pact would form a special Cabinet committee to re-examine the 1963 Malaysia Agreement that spells out each of the two Borneo states’ entitlements.

“This will include increasing the oil royalty for the states from five per cent to 20 per cent,”’ he said in a Policy Talk on Sabah and Sarawak broadcast live through on Facebook today.

“What’s more, 50 per cent of tax collected from Sarawak will be returned to the state on the condition that it will be responsible for its own education and healthcare,”’ he said.

Dr Mahathir said a full report of such measures would be presented within six months of PH taking power.

He claimed his pact will provide greater emphasis to infrastructure development in the two states.

“Thirty per cent of (the nation’s) development budget will be dedicated to Sabah and Sarawak and priority will be given to the completion of the Pan Borneo highway

“We will also look into bringing in more foreign direct investment and even investment from the peninsula to Sabah and Sarawak to help generate more economic activities for the locals,”’ he said.

The former PM said this would help the residents of both states to break out of poverty.

A PH administration would also prioritise locals for civil service positions in both states, he added.

Schools would also be made to have student exchanges to improve better cultural understanding among peninsular and east Malaysian students, he added.

MKINI