Sabah govt to consider increasing assemblymen’s allowance

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KOTA KINABALU: The State government will consider the proposal to increase the allowance for its state assemblymen, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman.

Musa, who is also Finance Minister, however, said the several aspects, including financial implications, had to be taken into account before such proposal could be given serious consideration.

The proposal could also be considered if there was an increase in the price of crude oil and palm oil, as well as an increase in the state’s revenue in the future, he said at the State Assembly sitting yesterday.

Musa also said that the state government had never issued barter trading licences but instead issued approval letters to allow barter trade activities to take place.

He said in his winding up speech at the State Assembly sitting yesterday that the approval letters were issued by the State Finance Ministry.

He explained that prior to the issuance of the letter, each application had to go through stringent checks and filtering.

The application would only be considered by the ministry after it had fulfilled all the conditions set, he said.

Musa also said following the Tanduo intrusion in 2013, the National Security Council had advised the state government to postpone approval for applications and that this included applications for renewals. The postponement was done until August 1, 2013.

After that, approvals were issued although further improvements were made on the conditions for barter trading, he said.

These included the Standard Operating Procedure for the designated route and automatic identification system transponder on wooden or kumpit boats as a mode of transportation for barter trading, he said.