Karambir
MIRI: An academician welcomed the mid-term review initiatives of the 11th Malaysia Plan announced by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as heading in the right direction but raised doubts whether parts of it might be backtracked.
College lecturer Karambir Singh was commenting on the proposals under the category of “Accelerating development in Sabah and Sarawak” under the review by the new Harapan federal government which replaced the BN at Putrajaya in the 14th General Elections on May 9.
“On the face of it all the plans seem to be in the right direction, however, there are doubts about implementation,” he said.
He was referring to Pakatan having to backtrack on several components of its Election manifesto on grounds of lack of financial capacity due to depleted national coffers left by the previous government.
“The fear is that the review related to Sarawak might fall into the same category as the PH manifesto and perhaps would not be carried out,” he said.
Karambir pointed out that the review contained statements that seem to acknowledge the backward economic status of Sarawak compared to the rest of Malaysia and made proposals to mitigate this neglect by the Federal Government since the inception of Malaysia.
The methodology to uplift Sarawak included: Intensifying economic growth and development planning; Improving infrastructure for better connectivity rural linkages; Expanding access to basic infrastructure, amenities and services; Increasing employment opportunities; Enhancing the development of customary land.
Bruce Chai
Bruce Chai, a former Miri City councillor and UPP Pujut chairman, said there is great emphasis on economics and development of Malaysia in the review with a call for multi-sphere maturity to progress as a developed country in the making.
He welcomed the emphasis on cost effectiveness and efficiency in public service which would lead to transparency and accountability.
However, he is uncomfortable with the strong emphasis on Bumiputera economic enhancement which is in contradiction of national inclusivity, saying it should be generally spread to cover all the less privileged or poor segments of the society.
“Why are we still placing emphasis on Bumiputera? We should be placing emphasis on the less privileged or poor segments of the rakyat, regardless of whether they are Bumiputeras.
Chai welcomed the plan for equal development in region but said the review did not specify whether it was on size of region or population.
“Sarawak needs more money for infrastructures, schools, power and water supply due to its vastness vis-à-vis allocations based on population size,” he said.
He also called for clarity on the policy of industry-driven human capital development in education system.
However, Chai was happy to note the initiatives on strengthening the economy particularly in investing in cities to diversify the economic base and activities.
Miri City needs such investments as it has suffered in the past two to three years where the economy went down together with the oil and gas industry downturn, he pointed out.
“Miri has been left behind in such infrastructures and therefore we did not have a backup plan during economic downturn,” he said.