PETALING JAYA: Former Umno leader Khairy Jamaluddin has urged against politicising a citizenship briefing and information session that a DAP assemblyman has planned.
Last Saturday, Stulang assemblyman Chen Kah Eng postponed the June 30 session after a “misunderstanding” arose on social media about a poster promoting it, with politicians from Umno and PAS criticising the planned programme.
Chen said the briefing in Johor Bahru was to help people in his area lacking citizenship documents or birth certificates by providing them with a list of required documents and explanation about which department to refer to.
In the latest episode of his “Keluar Sekejap” podcast, Khairy stressed that despite DAP organising the briefing session, only the national registration department (JPN) could approve applications.
“Personally, I don’t feel there is a problem helping individuals with citizenship issues. I feel quite sad to see DAP getting attacked in this situation when all they want to do is help,” said the former Umno Youth chief.
“However, DAP should not have been tone deaf. The least they could have done was organise the programme with JPN. I don’t think JPN would have a problem with (joining) such programmes.”
Putrajaya should give all states a ‘fair allocation’
Commenting on a proposal by the regent of Johor, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim, for a reform of the federal system which would see Johor treated as a “partner”, Khairy said the federal government should look into giving all states a “fair allocation” of their state revenue.
He also said the federal government should explain why states had not been given a “fair allocation”.
“We also have to admit that most of the (country’s) development has been focused in the Klang Valley,” he said.
On Sunday, Tunku Ismail called for changes in the federal system, saying that Johor should be treated as a partner by Putrajaya.
He also expressed hope that “at least 20% to 30%” of Johor’s revenue would go back to the southern state in the future.
The regent said all of Johor’s annual tax revenue of about RM49 billion went to the federal government while Putrajaya allocated only RM1.4 billion to the state.
In a Facebook post yesterday, Johor menteri besar Onn Hafiz Ghazi said his government had requested that Putrajaya return at least 30% of taxes collected from the state.
Onn Hafiz said this request was important to ensure that Johoreans could enjoy the revenue generated in the state and for Johor to be developed further.
The Johor government’s request also comes after Penang’s plan to send an official letter to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim regarding its proposal for the return of 20% of taxes collected from the state.
Penang chief minister Chow Kon Yeow said Anwar had previously responded “positively” to the request when it was informally conveyed to him during a meeting. - Mkini
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