KOTA SAMARAHAN: Sarawak faces serious funding issue and hence its development is far behind compared to its counterparts in Peninsular Malaysia.
Balai Ringin assemblyman Snowdan Lawan said the government should help Sarawak address this issue before talking about National Transformation 2050 (TN50).
He said Sarawakians had many innovative ideas to contribute to the TN50, but nothing could be achieved without funds.
“We can have ideas like Einstein, but without funding, nothing can be done. In some parts of Sarawak, we don’t even have the basic infrastructure.
“Many rural children do not even have birth certificates or MyKid. It’s as if they don’t even belong to Malaysia. A lot of problems need to be addressed,” he said at the TN50 dialogue moderated by Minister of Youth and Sports Khairy Jamaluddin at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak here yesterday.
Also with Khairy to take questions from the crowd was Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg.
Snowdan lamented that Putrajaya had been talking about high income economy and technology advancement, but in Sarawak, people still struggled when it came to roads and facilities such as schools.
“In Kuala Lumpur, there is advancement. But in Sarawak, it is totally different. Give us the basic things first.
“Speaking of education, some of our rural schools are still dilapidated. You talk about high income economy but our economy here is still below par.
“In Kuala Lumpur, you know how to run, but here in Sarawak, we are still walking or worse, crawling. So let us have the basics first. We need more funding from the federal government,” he added.