KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing (pic) is unhappy with Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s statement saying Sarawak was “hard to please”.
“He got the things all wrong again. It is not his duty to please Sarawak and besides, we don’t want an apple-polishing Minister of Finance.
“All we want is a fair deal based on what Sarawak should have in accordance to the Federal Constitution and on what he promised us in the Pakatan Harapan manifesto during the 14th general election,” said Masing.
Masing, who is also Sarawak Infrastructure and Ports Development Minister, pointed out that the 17 percent of the total budget given to Sarawak was not a fair deal.
“Apart from failing to fulfil his GE14 promises, Lim, whenever he opens his mouth, he never says anything positive about Sarawak.
“How does he expect Sarawakians to be thankful to him?” Masing asked.
Thus, the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president advised Lim that he must understand
that he is the Minister of Finance and his words affected the markets.
Lim had said that Sarawak was difficult to please although the state had the second-largest state allocation in 2020 Budget and should not be complaining.
“The Sarawak government would always say they are unhappy, although we have added grants for the state. It is difficult to please them.
“They get the second-largest allocation for a state. Sabah has the largest. What about the other 11 states?” Lim was quoted as saying when responding to the media at a post-budget media conference last Saturday, a day after the presentation of 2020 Budget in Parliament.
In 2020 Budget, Sarawak was allocated RM4.4bil in development funds.
