KUCHING: Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) chief whip Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof describes 2020 Budget presented by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng as good but in the context of Sarawak, did not fulfil its aspirations.
Firstly, Fadillah recalled that under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government’s manifesto, Sarawak and Sabah were promised to be given 30 percent of the development fund.
“But in 2020 Budget, Sarawak obtained RM4.4 billion while Sabah received RM5.1 billion from the development fund of RM56 billion.
“The development fund gained by Sarawak and Sabah amounted to RM9.5 billion which is only 19.6 percent of the total,” he said when contacted yesterday.
He further stated that the gap of the infrastructure development between Sarawak and Malaya is still a long way off.
“Secondly, Sarawak is set to receive RM64 million in Special Grant compared to Sabah which will receive RM106.8 million.
“However, we welcome the federal government’s review of the Special Grant under Section 112D of the Federal Constitution after 1969,” he said.
Fadillah also questioned the differences in the special grant whether it was discussed in the Technical Committee of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) or vice-versa.
“This is because the giveaway seems like it was not discussed in detail but is still being announced,” he continued.
Thirdly, the issue of dilapidated schools which he said was “too general”.
“We know that the Sarawak government is paying RM350 million to the federal government for the purpose of repairing dilapidated schools, so are the funds being included for Sarawak?” he asked.
Fadillah who is also Petra Jaya MP has pledged to study the budget thoroughly.
“The fourth is in terms of health care where I want to know more about the mechanism of the
implementation,” he said.
He concluded that the 2020 Budget did not fulfil the aspirations of Sarawak in general.
