Kuala Lumpur: Sabah and Sarawak will continue to lag behind the development mainstream if the new Malaysian Government continues to adopt the old way of distributing the national budget.
Keningau Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey G Kitingan recently said the Prime Minister had proposed the payment of RM260 million to Sabah and RM300 million to Sarawak.
“Why is it not 40 per cent as stipulated in the constitution?” he said, insisting that the net revenue of 40 per cent in articles 112C and 112D had not yet been implemented.
According to Dr Jeffrey, Sabah and Sarawak needed development as promised to the pioneers of Sabah independence, not giving reasons that the central government has no money.
“The money is from Sabah and not from other states or the federation and the Federation receives 60 per cent, the rest must be returned to Sabah,” he said.
Dr Jeffrey said that it was rumoured that the RM6.5 billion allocated to Sabah in the 2023 budget includes approximately RM5 billion brought forward from the 2022 allocation which could not be spent due to bureaucracy.
Dr Jeffrey asked for an explanation and if that was true, then Sabah only got an allocation of RM1.5 billion in the 2023 budget and not RM6.5 billion.
Dr Jeffrey, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah, suggested that the development allocation for 2023 and beyond be put directly into two accounts of the Development Trust, namely for Sabah and for Sarawak.
“In that way, allocations can be spent according to the Sabah and Sarawak model which will be regulated by a committee with the Federal Ministry, Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.
Based on the scenario, Dr Jeffrey argued that due to bureaucracy, Sabah did not fully receive the funds allocated in the annual budget as a result of which the balance was carried over to the next year as a “rollover”.
According to him, as a result of the ‘rollover’, every year the RM4-5 billion allocated for the development of Sabah is only spent within four or five years.
“If RM4-5 billion of the allocation is spent every year, then the amount of development favours in Sabah could reach RM20-25 billion,” he said.
He explained that the fairer development allocation is based on a ratio of 50 per cent for the peninsula and 50 per cent for Borneo according to equal partner entities in the Federation of Malaysia.
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