KUCHING, Oct 11: Minister of Works Baru Bian was happy that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government has listened to the voices of Sarawakians and Sabahans by allocating the much needed funds in the Budget 2020.
He pointed out that the Budget 2020 was an improvement from the 2019 budget, focusing on numerous developments for the two Borneon states.
“I’m very happy with the budget. Previously before PH took over as the federal government, we understand (the situations in Sabah and Sarawak), we have been raising up the issues, we have been left far behind in terms of development, and the present (PH) government is aware of this,” he told reporters after the budget announcement in Parliament in Putrajaya today.
“And we are trying to compensate for this, we can’t do that immediately but we go slowly and this shows that the PH government is responsible, and proved that we really are giving attention to Sabah and Sarawak,” he emphasised.
Baru, who is also Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sarawak chairman, praised Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng for the bigger allocation for Sarawak compared to the 2019 budget, while still maintaining the country’s financial capacity at present.
“I think it’s very good news as it is an improvement from 2019 (budget). The allocation has to be done within the capacity of the government of the day,” he said.
“We have to be reasonable, at the same time be responsible for Sabah and Sarawak. I think 2020 (budget) focus is very clear that this government is giving more to Sabah and Sarawak,” he added.
He stressed that this has even been raised in Cabinet, that every ministry has to give special attention to Sabah and Sarawak from their own allocation as well.
“What is important is that these (development) projects be implemented properly. There is no point for us to declare huge amount of projects which eventually would not be implemented properly nor within budget. This is very crucial for us,” he added.— DayakDaily
