The opposition PH got badly stung, not once but many times, by the State 2020 Budget. Folk like state PH chairman Chong Chieng Jen and PKR state chairman Baru Bian may have expected a ‘bad’ state budget — bad in the sense that it is not good for PH — but what they probably least expected was a budget that was ‘badder’ and it embarrassed them to the bones.
They are embarrassed because the State 2020 Budget covers so many areas that the PH government’s 2020 Budget did not address even though these were part of its GE14 promises.
Some Sarawakians, like most of their Malayan counterparts, had voted for PH in GE14 because they thought they could trust the PH manifesto.
Clearly, they failed to realise that the PH manifesto was no bible “to be followed and abided by religiously”.
They only knew the truth of it well after they had voted PH into power and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, well-entrenched as prime minister said, “Please remember, manifesto is not a bible. It’s a guide.”
So yes, it was after all a guide, therefore, PH is under no obligations to fulfil its promises to borrowers of PTPTN and once GE14 was won, graduates struggling to repay their loans were left in a limbo. They thought now that the PH was in control of Putrajaya they would no longer be burdened by their PTPTN loans.
But what did they get for the votes they gave PH? They not only found that they must pay back but demand for repayment gets even harsher and harder to fulfil.
And as if that’s not enough, the 2020 Budget came and went; there was nothing for borrowers of PTPTN, so they went to the streets with placards, voiced their dissatisfaction and vowed not to vote for PH in future elections.
The GPS state government saw the gloom in the faces of Sarawakian children among the thousands of PTPTN borrowers who cried foul.
On Oct 19, at a townhall session with 5,000 Sarawakians studying and working in Malaya, held as part of the Lan Berambeh Anak Sarawak 2019 event in Kuala Lumpur, the chief minister said, “For the next six months we will be looking for a formula so that Sarawakians will not have difficulty in paying the debt.”
On Monday, the chief minister, true to his words, set aside RM30 million for this purpose. That was sting No. 1.
Then came sting No. 2 — the RM100 million allocated to JKKK. Again the PH folk probably didn’t think the GPS state government would dish out such an amount when their Rural Development Minister Rina Mohd Harun had clearly stated her ministry was ready with an annual overall allocation not exceeding RM100 million to benefit 10,000 MPKKP out of 16,481 villages nationwide.
Out of the 10,000, 6,000 are in Sarawak, so check out how much each of the Sarawak MPKKP will get, and that’s the fund these MPKKP hope to use to win the votes in the villages and longhouses. Don’t be surprised they will soon up the ante — that is, if at all the MPKKP is allowed to operate in the Land of the Hornbill.
PH got stung for the third time when the State 2020 Budget reiterated its commitment to address the issue of dilapidated schools in the state.
The GPS state government makes it clear that it will make advanced repayment of its RM1 billion public loan to the federal government for this purpose, something that no other states are doing. Sarawak takes this initiative because the federal government is giving excuses and dragging its feet while pupils and students continue to study under abject condition.
Probably the worst of the stings is the RM40 million approved to carry out NCR perimeter survey and survey of individual lots.
The PH government gave not a single sen for this purpose in its 2020 Budget, apparently because the state PH “objected to any funding for conducting perimeter survey under Section 6 of the Sarawak Land Code 1958 in Sarawak”.
It must have been quite an objection because their 2020 Budget also failed to provide for survey of NCR land under Section 18.
What a way to win a case. The state PH got what they wanted but on Monday, they emerged from the DUN looking dazed by a ‘bad’ budget that’s just too good for comfort.
