Abang Johari speaks to reporters at the PBB headquarters near here today. – Photo from Sarawak Public Communications Unit
KUCHING (April 1): Federal ministers must first inform the Sarawak government first before visiting and implementing projects in the state, said Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He said this is so that the state government can arrange and coordinate their visits and they can focus on target areas during their visit.
“Because sometimes we need the state offices to know what they (federal ministers) are doing, what project they want to implement, because we can coordinate as what the Prime Minister wants.
“I think the federal ministers, most of them comply with the direction of our Prime Minister that the state’s interest come first. And also the Prime Minister has told them to follow the state’s protocol where they must be together with the leaders in Sarawak in managing and administrating the projects which are implemented in Sarawak,” he said.
The Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) president said this after chairing the party’s supreme council meeting at its headquarters today.
Abang Johari, who is also Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) chairman, also pointed out that the Unity Government is a government which gives stability to Malaysia so that the country can continue moving forward in the economy and social sectors.
He said GPS, which is part of the Unity Government, has agreed with the formation of the Unity Government Leadership Council, where they will continue to negotiate with the federal government on the direction of the country’s development as well as coordinating if there are internal problems between them.
“Even though there is no problem now, we always have discussion process such as in implementing RM50 million projects. For us, it must be the full package on project implementation.
“I was informed by ICU (Implementation and Coordination Unit in the Prime Minister’s Department) director-general (Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz) that it will be implemented according to what Sarawak wants,” he said.
Abang Johari was referring to the announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Jan 4 that all government projects in east Malaysia below RM50 million will now be decided by the state governments of Sabah and Sarawak themselves and need not go through the federal government.
It was announced then that such a move was the first step to show that the federal government was serious in committing to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
To a question, Abang Johari said the projects costing RM50 million and below for Sarawak are mainly in the the education and health sectors, including building of schools and medical facilities, and also construction of rural roads
“I don’t have the figure. You just imagine (how many), we have about RM4 billion allocation to us including these small projects.
“They (federal government) agreed to implement it as a package, meaning the consultant is from here, support service from Sarawak and the tender board also in Sarawak, from the planning stage because it involves land as sites which are mainly in rural areas.
“(This is) so that we can trash these issues and implement the projects as soon as possible,” he said.
On another matter, Abang Johari said PBB will hold a Convention in conjunction with 60 years of Sarawak independence to be held in three zones namely South, Central and North.
He explained this to update PBB members on what Sarawak has achieved, particularly on the implementation of the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS 2030) where the state will shift to a new economy.
“Many new sectors which may not be found in other areas are to be implemented in Sarawak. So we have to update our members because this involves renowned technologies.
“I had also said before that we will announce the world’s first technology produced by Sarawak,” he said.
As such, he said he hoped this new approach coupled with cooperation from the Unity Government will enable Sarawak to proceed with its development and the benefits will be felt by the people.