KUCHING: The allocation in the national budget must reflect the status of Sarawak, which has been accorded the status of a region and is no longer regarded as a state in Malaysia.
Sarawak Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Gerald Rentap Jabu said Sarawak has been recognised as one of the three regions, besides Sabah and the states in West Malaysia, thus making it an equal partner of Malaysia.
“As a region, we must also come with a strong economic power, not only to boost the development in Sarawak but to contribute to the overall progress of the country.
“Thus, Sarawak should have a bigger share; at least one-third of the total allocation in the national budget.
“Besides, they (the federal government) should understand that Sarawak is almost the size of the whole of Peninsular Malaysia; hence, we need more allocation.
“Imagine if we were receiving the same amount (in the national budget) as Selangor—that is not fair,” he told reporters after the “Borneo Youth – Agent of Change in a New Malaysia” forum held here today (Jan 14).
The Layar assemblyman is confident the unity federal government is committed to returning and restoring more rights belonging to Sarawak, listed under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), including education and health autonomy.
Apart from that, he said, national policies should also place greater emphasis on the needs and aspirations of Sarawak.
On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi stressed that Sabah and Sarawak have been accorded the status of regions, and the two regions have contributed a lot to the country’s economic development for decades.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Rural and Regional Development Minister, said now is the best time for the government to develop both Sabah and Sarawak, in line with the development of the entire Borneo archipelago, including Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Accordingly, the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman said that the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) needs to be implemented immediately.
Meanwhile, Tupong assemblyman Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman said Sarawak welcomed the acknowledgement and believed that “it does not just stop there” as more needs to be done to reflect Sarawak’s status as a region in the country.
“It (status) is just a start, and we need to move forward, especially when it comes to several matters regarding our rights.
“We are informed that the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) will be coming here to discuss MA63 as well as learn about our requests and demands,” he added.
Fazzrudin added that this also showed that Sarawak’s decision to restyle “Chief Minister” to “Premier” to correctly reflect Sarawak’s status as different from the other states in Malaysia was a right move.
He said this would give full effect to the recent Federal Constitution amendments that restored Sarawak’s rights and status as one of the three regions that formed the Federation of Malaysia under the MA63.
