By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Nov 7: Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) has called on all Sarawakian MPs to reject Budget 2021 which was tabled at the Parliament yesterday (Nov 6) as a sign of unfair and lop-sided treatment to Sarawakians by the federal government.
Its president Lina Soo in a statement said Sarawak is a major contributor to the national coffer and yet the allocation provided for Sarawak was just a paltry sum.
“Once again, Malaysia Budget 2021 is a mockery in terms of “equal partners” status when it comes to allocation of development funds for Sarawak vis-à-vis national budget.
“Billed as the biggest budget ever in Malaysian history valued at RM322.5 billion with RM69 billion for development expenditure where Sarawak will get a mere 6.5 percent at RM4.5 billion, whither “equal partnership” when the lion’s share of the budget amounting to 86 percent is spent in Malaya, whilst Sarawak is given a crumb or two,” she said in a statement.
Soo is puzzled how the allocation of RM4.5 billion for the construction and upgrading of water and electricity facilities, roads, bridges as well as health and educational facilities will be stretched to meet and realize the expectations for Sarawak development.
She said that Sarawak will lag behind in terms of development as the state has a vast land size for development as compared to the amount of development expenditure provided in Budget 2021.
Soo added the allocation of RM41 million for the Native Customary Rights (NCR) programmes to be shared between Sarawak and Sabah, is grossly inadequate just to resolve some native land rights issues in Sarawak alone.
She believed that it will disenfranchise the Dayak community in Sarawak further and widen the chasm between the urban rich and the rural poor.
Thus, Soo asks where is the clout the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) state government wields to get a fair deal for Sarawak when it comes to national budget time.
As one of the major contributors to the national revenue from taxes and oil and gas resources, she believed the Sarawak government has failed the people in getting so little return and Sarawak remains a poorly developed region with the highest level of poverty.
Hence, Soo urges Sarawakian MPs to stand up for Sarawakians by rejecting Budget 2021 as a sign of the unfair treatment by the federal government. —DayakDaily
