‘ S’wak among biggest contributors to federal coffer, but getting pittance in return’
KUCHING: The Federal Budget 2019 allocation for Sarawak is way too little for Sarawak to bring its level of development to be at par with that of Peninsular Malaysia.
Second Finance Minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh said the RM4bil federal allocation did not reflect Sarawak’s massive contributions to the federal coffer.
“Sarawak has been among the largest contributors to the federal coffer in terms of revenue collection, particularly from oil and gas and collection of taxes… (we) definitely deserve a bigger share,” Wong said in his winding-up speech.
‘ We can no longer allow the people of Sarawak,
particularly the rural community, to continue
suffering as a result of slow pace of development
arising from years of inadequate federal funding.’
“In fact, the share of allocation for Sarawak in the federal development budget 2019 is a drop compared to allocation in 2017, this despite the promise made by the state Pakatan Harapan to make sure that Sarawak and Sabah will get 30 per cent of the federal allocation,” he pointed out.
Wong, who is United People’s Party (UPP) president, said the federal government had fallen short in its delivery to the people of Sarawak in terms of development and vital services such as healthcare and education.
“We can no longer allow the people of Sarawak, particularly the rural community, to continue suffering as a result of slow pace of development arising from years of inadequate federal funding,” he said.
He said it was for this reason that State Budget 2019 was development-biased and rural-focused so as to provide quality life to the people.
“The state has provided large sum totalling RM6.049bil for the implementation of various programmes and projects in the rural areas throughout Sarawak, among which are rural transformation initiatives, rural water and electricity, roads network, dilapidated schools and affordable housing,” he said, adding most of the projects are targeted for completion within the next two years.
