KUCHING: A Sarawak PKR leader has scoffed at claims by Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) that it can develop the state without Putrajaya’s assistance, saying attempts to do so would only do the people a disservice.
Sarawak PKR information chief Desmond Kho said the “pragmatic” thing to do would be to acknowledge that the state’s infrastructure still lags far behind that of the peninsula.
“The question should be: how are we going to develop the state together rather than whether one party can do it at the exclusion of the other,” he told FMT.
Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg said on Wednesday that the state government had the resources to develop Sarawak on its own.
“The only area that we are lacking in is human talent, but if we have that human talent and we know our rights, I think we can be better than the peninsula,” he said.
However, Kho said circumstances in Sarawak had arisen during the Barisan Nasional rule throughout the decades.
Since Pakatan Harapan (PH) took over the federal government, he said, it had demonstrated its sincerity about assisting both Sabah and Sarawak.
He spoke of efforts to restore Article 1 (2) of the Federal Constitution to its original wording prior to amendments in 1976 which categorised Sabah and Sarawak as one of the 13 states instead of equal partners with the peninsula.
The Federal Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2019 was, however, defeated in the Dewan Rakyat on April 9 with PH failing to obtain the two-thirds majority needed.
Kho also said the price of RON95 petrol would be capped at RM2.08 per litre in Sabah and Sarawak even though the market price has reached RM2.49 per litre.
“The PH-led government is also extending its initiatives for ordinary Sarawakians through the implementation of village community management councils, even though there was an earlier directive from the GPS government banning village heads from participating in functions not sanctioned by the state,” he said. - FMT
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