KUCHING: State empowerment is the way forward for the Sarawak-Malaysia partnership views Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He said overcentralisation or the concentration of powers to the federal government would be detrimental to states within the federation.
“In terms of managing a federation, there are two blocs. One is the centralists and the other is the non-centralists. Centralists are dangerous as you don’t take into account those surrounding you. It is a danger in any federation.
“But if you have (state) empowerment that is based on the provisions of the constitutions, then it is okay.
“That is why now I feel there must be a decentralisation on certain parts of the economy and parts of the administration,” he said when speaking to Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril Hamdan, co-hosts of the Keluar Sekejap podcast which aired on Monday (July 22).
Abang Johari said at Sarawak’s level, decentralisation of powers has been implemented in terms of development whereby the authority is given to regional development agencies.
“I have delegated the authority to the nine development agencies and they are given an allocation of RM1.5 billion each. It is up to them to develop their areas as they know what they need,” he said.
The Premier said the two crucial areas for decentralisation of powers to Sarawak are health and education.
“We all know the situation at our rural clinics. We want to build new clinics where the building is good as well have doctors and nurses to attend to the patients. Same thing with our dilapidated schools.
“Now, the prime minister has agreed with me for Sarawak to address the dilapidated schools by using the state fund, to be reimbursed later by the federal government. This is empowerment.
“Now we want to build a cancer hospital and they (Putrajaya) just agreed for Sarawak to fund (its construction) and to be repaid over time,” he said.
Abang Johari also refuted claims that Sarawak is looking to introduce their own education policy when given the authority to manage education matters.
“This has nothing to do with the education policy. The education policy is still the national policy. What we want is simply for the state education director to be given the authority to implement development projects. That is what we are asking”.
