Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal walks through the disinfection chamber installed at the entrance of the State Assembly building as he makes his way to the sitting.
KOTA KINABALU: Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal expressed concern as to what would happen to the state after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The state and country’s revenue will be severely affected … what are we going to do? We do not want to be a popular government that is always trying to ingratiate itself with the rakyat.
“We want to help our rakyat and also ensure that the state is managed properly but I realise that we have to forgo a lot including in revenue. Post Covid-19, we have to think about how the government’s operating expenditure which will be high.
“But we need to balance it with the revenue that we have, therefore to look at how to help but not to spoil. The government does not want to help the rakyat until they have a culture of being very dependent on the government for assistance,” stressed Shafie.
To this end, this is why for farmers and fishermen, the state government’s post Covid-19 assistance will be in the form of loans that they can obtain from Sabah Development Bank and Sabah Credit Corporation.
The loan is zero interest and the loanees need to only pay the principal, he added.
“I want to stress that it cannot be given for free. We have to create a culture among fellow Sabahans particularly among the youngsters as we want to ensure that the community we create will be competitive and independent,” he said.