KUCHING: The Shared Prosperity Vision as a new economic policy is expected to reduce the rural-urban disparity in the country.
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali stated this while officiating at the opening of the Sarawak PKR annual general meeting (AGM) last Sunday night at Imperial Hotel.
He said that last Saturday (Sept 14) Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad have ordered his ministers not to take leave as they were required to attend a Cabinet meeting on Malaysia’s economic path and future.
“Tun Mahathir told me to start the debate and discuss the economy as we need to recalibrate the policies to meet new challenges, to be more inclusive.
“We want to ensure that the new economic policy can reduce the disparity between urban and rural development, and close the disparity between the rich and the poor.
“We want not just Kuching to be developed but other districts in Sarawak as well,” he said.
Azmin revealed that the discussion on ‘Shared Prosperity’ took three hours before they agreed to turn it into a government policy.
“This means that all citizens will share the wealth of the country because we don’t want one race rich while others are left out,” he said.
After the Cabinet meeting, he said he visited Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng to discuss Budget 2020 under which development expenditures would not be decreased as several infrastructure projects around the country need attention.
“I have told Baru Bian that the allocations next year for Sarawak will be much bigger compared to this year’s,” he said.
Regarding the meeting on Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) chaired by Tun Mahathir and attended by, among others, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg and Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, he said after years of dispute they managed to solve a majority of the problems, the details of which was revealed by the prime minister himself last night (Sept 16).
“I have met with Abang Johari informally and told him that for Sarawak to have big development, the federal government will act in the spirit of federalism to help the state government as we want Sarawakians to enjoy their rights.
“A discussion with (Works Minister) Baru and others will be done to look at the districts that are left far behind so that we can development them in terms of education, health, infrastructure, and so on.
“As many are still living below the poverty line, we also discussed in the Cabinet the need to re-examine today’s poverty levels which do not reflect the real situation at the grassroots level,” he said.
Also present at the event were PKR vice presidents Ali Biju and Tian Chua, State Leadership Council (MPN) president Baru Bian, MPN deputy chairman Baharuddin Mokhsen, Puncak Borneo MP Willie Mongin, Rural Development deputy minister Sivarasa Rasiah and Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.
