KENINGAU: Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan is expecting Sabah to be provided with more funding from the Federal government in the 2013 Budget.
“Sabah still requires a lot of financial allocation, particularly for the development of rural areas which are still lagging behind in terms of infrastructure,” he said at a Hari Raya open house he hosted here yesterday.
He urged the federal government to provide more funding to upgrade roads and provide electricity and water supplies to fulfill the agenda of transforming the rural areas.
“I sincerely hope that Sabah will get ‘good news’ with the 2013 budget to be tabled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak this month,” he said.
Touching on the issue of members making party crossovers, the president of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) said he was not at all surprised since it had become a unique political trend.
As a democracy professing freedom of speech, party hopping is not restrainable.
“We cannot restrict the freedom of the individual to choose which party he wants to and as much as we want to contain party hopping, say, by introducing an anti-hop law, any such law would still be contrary to the Constitution.
“To me, crossovers have become a norm and is sam garam?(part and parcel) of Sabah political scenario,” Pairin said.
He however expressed confidence that with a charismatic leader like Prime Minister Najib, any party hopping would not jeopardise the support of the people for the BN.
The Minister of Infrastructure Development was also confident that the BN would ‘win big’ in the coming general election.
“I’m sure the people in the interior will continue to give their strong support to the present BN government in the forthcoming 13th general election,” he said.
Also present at the open house was Puan Sri Genevieve Kitingan and other local dignitaries.