KUCHING: “Irresponsible and fearmongering statement by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng!”
That was how Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) chairman Lo Khere Chiang responded to Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s claim on Friday night that the state Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government would go bankrupt in three years’ time due to its large state budget.
“How can we trust Lim and the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government when he as the Finance Minister can make such irresponsible statement which is misrepresenting, misleading and fearmongering the people of Sarawak and investors, all for the sake of his political mileage. It goes to show that lies and U-turns are the norms of the day for Lim and the PH government.
“He should correct his statement and apologise to the people of Sarawak as well as to stop deteriorating investors’ confidence in Malaysia,” Lo said when met by New Sarawak Tribune yesterday.
Last Friday, Lim stated, “The State Budget (of Sarawak) is RM11 billion while the state reserves is RM30 billion. If every year you spend RM11 billion, in three years’ time, you’ve got nothing left.”
Responding to this, Lo expressed his disappointment with Lim for trying to mislead Sarawakians into believing that the GPS government had failed them.
“In fact, the GPS government is the only government that Sarawakians can depend on to look after their interests and to bring back the wealth of Sarawak as well as to regain the rights of Sarawakians as enshrined under Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63),” he said.
Lo, who is also Batu Kitang assemblyman, added that such statement reflected the irresponsible behaviour of a Finance Minister.
“No wonder the Malaysian economy is at its worst since he (Lim) took over. The stock market is going down, prices of goods are going up, and foreign investors lack confidence in the new PH government,” he said.
In perspective, Lo stated that Sarawak was the only entity in Malaysia having the highest reserves of RM30 billion.
Comparing the state’s reserves to Penang instead, Lo pointed out, “Penang’s reserves is less than RM2 billion. Based on Lim’s intelligent analogy, Penang should have gone bankrupt by now.”
On Nov 5, 2018, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg announced the 2019 State Budget worth RM11.9 billion which will be development-based and rural-focused to stimulate economic activities and progress for the state. Of the amount, RM9.073 billion (76 per cent) is allocated for development expenditures while RM2.841 billion (24 per cent) is for operating expenditure.
Elaborating of how the largest ever State Budget worth RM11.9 billion comes about, Lo stated that the total state revenue for 2019 was projected at RM10.513 billion. The 2019 state revenue estimate is made up of tax revenue expected at RM5.268 billion, or 50 per cent of the total expected revenue in 2019, while the non-tax revenue is estimated at RM4.997 billion or 48 per cent of the total expected revenue.
“In addition, the 5 per cent petroleum tax imposed on oil-related businesses is expected to bring in an estimated RM3.85 billion. All in all, we could generate income more than RM11.9 billion (State Budget). This explains how the government dared to come up with such amount and even so, we did not have to disturb our reserves,” he explained.
Lo further stated, “Before Lim misleads the people of Sarawak further, let’s question him: When is Lim going to give the people of Sarawak the 20 per cent oil royalty, the 50 per cent of all tax collected and the autonomy of health and education, as promised before the last 14th General Election (GE14)?”
“Every day, RM250 million worth of petroleum is being siphoned from the land of Sarawak, only to benefit Malaya with only 5 per cent return to Sarawak. After taking the RM250 million from Sarawak, Lim still has the cheek to mislead Sarawakians into believing that we are poor when in fact, we are extremely rich. If RM250 million (petroleum) a day stays in Sarawak, I see no good reason to be kind to Lim and his Malayan partners.
“Sarawak should continue to increase its petrol tax from 5 per cent to 10 per cent and up to 20 per cent or even more, so that we can carry out even more development projects for the people of Sarawak. After all, this is what Lim promised to the people in many of his speeches before the GE14.”
“Let us Sarawakians pull ourselves together and unite under GPS, under the leadership of Abang Johari to tell our ‘Malayan masters’ that Sarawakians want control over our oil and gas resources, autonomy in health and education as well as all the rights of Sarawakians as enshrined in MA63,” Lo concluded.
