Federal pulling out from loan deal disappointing: Abdul Karim
KUCHING: The withdrawal of the federal government from a deal on an allocation of RM1 billion for repairing and rebuilding dilapidated schools in Sarawak is very disappointing, said Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
Deeply saddened by the withdrawal, he said over 1,000 schools in the state are dilapidated with about 400 critically so.
Abdul Karim said this today to reporters who attended a press conference on Kuching Waterfront Jazz Festival at a local hotel.
He explained that the job of repairing and/or rebuilding dilapidated schools is a joint federal-state effort although education is under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
“But the federal government always says there is no money yet. That is why the Sarawak government offered the federal government a contra loan of RM1 billion to get the job done,” he said.
He explained that the state government was not just giving the loan without condition as Sarawak still owes some money to the federal government and there are other obligations to meet.
“We made the offer to the federal government so that Sarawak’s debt can be reduced. Initially they agreed, but then they withdrew from the deal,” he said.
Hence, Abdul Karim can’t help questioning the intentions of the federal government. Do they want proper schools for Sarawak? Don’t they want the students happy with their school facilities?
He explained further that if the funds come from the state government, then there would be conditions imposed to make sure that the funds would be used for the benefit of Sarawak alone and not to be used in Malaya. This is considered reasonable as Sarawak wants the loan to be deducted from the amount it owes to the federal government.
“They have second thoughts on the deal perhaps because from their standpoint it would not be good politically. If this is the case then they are putting politics above the welfare of Sarawakians,” he said.
“Do or don’t they want to rebuild or repair the dilapidated schools in Sarawak? That’s the gist of the issue.”
He then asked for feedback from Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak MPs who are now ministers and deputy ministers. Are they going to be supportive or will they just sit back and not say or do anything?
“Before PH gained power they were like fighters and now their ‘ekor sudah di bawah kaki’ (tails between their legs), afraid to voice out their opinions. This is very disappointing. To me, they are playing with politics,” he said.
Then he disclosed that he had to use his own allocations of about RM2 million to help build and repair the schools, SK Sebandi Ulu and SK Sampun, in his constituency.
