PBK exco questions budget allocation for Sarawak being less than that for Sabah

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SIBU: A Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) executive member questions why Sarawak is still getting less allocation than Sabah under Budget 2021.

The party’s secretary-general Priscilla Lau pointed out that the state’s ruling coalition Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) had stressed about this year’s allocation still being inadequate for Sarawak’s development.

Priscilla Lau

“So why is it that (the allocation for Sarawak under) Budget 2021 is still just as little?” she said in a press statement.

In Budget 2021 tabled in Parliament on Friday, Sabah and Sarawak are to receive RM5.1 billion and RM4.5 billion, respectively, in development expenditure for infrastructure development including water, electricity, roads, health and education facilities.

Adding on, Lau stressed about Sarawak needing more hospitals and schools, adding that the state had been ‘severely lagging behind in both these two foundation areas of a developing nation’.

“Our roads are a disgrace and many lives have been lost as a result.

“As such, the allocation to Sarawak should be a more substantial amount than what is allocated in Budget 2021.

“Sarawak has much catching up to do,” she said.

On the Budget 2021’s attempt to increase the spending power of the working group by reducing their contributions to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) by two per cent, Lau believed that the choice should have been given to the employees by not making it mandatory for them to contribute at all during these hard times.

She also said the budget should have gone a step further by reducing the employers’ contributions to the EPF, in view of many businesses having difficulties just to stay afloat.

On the allocation for the Light Rapid Transit (LRT) and High Speed Rail (HSR) systems in Peninsular Malaysia, Lau suggested that the Perikatan Nasional (PN)-led federal government would ‘seriously look’ into allocating the budget for laying out a good railway system for Sabah and Sarawak.

“It is truly a shame that to this day, Sarawak is still so rural and underdeveloped.

“As I continue to read about the Budget (2021)’s focus on digital transformation, environment, tourism, commodities and other areas, I cannot help but feel that Sarawak is ‘detached’,” she said.

Lau felt that all the spending focused on these areas was in stark contrast with those meant for the immediate needs of Sarawak such as access to clean water and electricity supply, roads, healthcare and education.

She said while she regarded Budget 2021 as a ‘clear attempt to revitalise the nation’s economy’, it was unclear as to where the revenue was being derived from for ‘this overdrive in spending’.