KUCHING: Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak has assured that in the 2019 Budget to be tabled on November 2 in Parliament, Sarawak and Sabah will get 30% of the development expenditure as promised in the PH Manifesto.
PH Sarawak Chairman, Chong Chieng Jen told a press conference here yesterday: “This will be more, in terms of the proportion of development expenditure, than all the previous budgets of the Barisan Nasional (BN) in the past 55 years.”
Under the past 55 years of BN rule, Chong, who is also DAP Sarawak Chairman, pointed out that annually, Sarawak and Sabah were each allocated only 10%-13% of the development expenditures and “ jointly less than 25% of the total development budgets.”
“As for the additional revenue-sharing formula formerly proposed by PH on 20% oil royalties and 50% tax revenue collected in Sarawak, the original proposal endorsed by the National Pakatan Harapan was that the additional revenue (i.e. additional 15% oil royalties and 50% tax revenue) was to be used to finance educational and healthcare projects in Sarawak with full autonomy given to the state government.
“However, regrettably, this proposal was rejected by the Sarawak state government. “After the Sarawak state government rejected PH’s original proposal, the PH federal government set up the 16-member MA63 Steering Committee comprising eight from West Malaysia and eight from the Borneo states, including the Chief Ministers of both Sabah and Sarawak, to discuss further the revenue-sharing formula and other matters on the devolution of powers.
“Until this MA63 Steering Committee comes up with a new proposal on the revenue-sharing formula, Sarawak will still continue to get its 5% oil and gas royalties and, in addition, a bigger proportion of the development budget than what BN has allocated for the past 55 years.”
Chong said Sarawak had not been deprived of funding after the change of federal government. “In fact, the budgetary allocation for the whole country will shrink. This is the consequence of past corruption, cronyism, wasteful spending and the hiding of the true financial predicament of the country.” Chong stressed that PH was committed to drawing up an equitable and fair revenue-sharing formula with Sarawak to enrich and empower the people of state.
“It is only through equitable and transparent financial management that the ordinary men and women on the street will get the benefits.”
Asked how the money from federal budget would be channelled to Sarawak, Chong, who is also Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, said he could not speak on behalf of all the ministries. “It will be left to all the ministries to implement the projects and use the money.
But I can assure that under the PH government, all the money will be used properly, transparently and fairly,” he said.
