MIRI, Feb 26: Many Sarawakians were disappointed with the Budget 2023 as they expected more allocations this year, says Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Secretary-General Datuk Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew.
In Budget 2023 which was tabled by Prime Minister Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Friday (Feb 24), Sarawak was allocated RM5.6 billion in development funding, an increase of RM1 billion from the RM4.6 billion in the 2022 Budget.
“Although the amount of funding has increased, it is only a drop in the bucket for the development needs of Sarawak,” said Ting in statement.
“If we look at the development needs of rural areas, especially roads, water and electricity supply, communication and medical care, the allocation of RM5.6 billion in general is insignificant. This is why the federal government must continue to assist and pay attention to the development of Sarawak.”
He added, development funds in the annual budget must also continue to support Sarawak’s development agenda through other methods and channels, so as to narrow the development gap between East Malaysia and West Malaysia.
“Overall, it is still early to comment how much Sarawak can benefit from the 2023 Budget because we have not seen the details of how much the allocations are for the different current projects and future new projects,” he said.
On another note, he welcomed the Prime Minister’s assurance that the federal government is committed to continuing the Sarawak and Sabah Pan Borneo Highway and Sarawak-Sabah Link Road because they are critical infrastructure projects and key to Sarawak’s future development.
He urged the federal government to do everything in its power to ensure that these projects will be completed as soon as possible to drive economic development in both urban and rural areas, and improve the lives of rural people.
Two days ago, Anwar who is also the Finance Minister had tabled in Parliament an expansionary budget of RM388.1 billion, the largest budget ever to be tabled in Malaysia’s history and RM 15.8 billion more than the 2023 Budget of RM372.3 billion tabled by the previous Prime Minister Dato Sri Ismail Sabri last year which was not passed in Parliament as Parliament was dissolved to make way for the 15th General Election last year.
Anwar also announced measures to lower cost of living, such as reducing individual income tax rate by two per cent for income bands of over RM35,000 to RM100,000 which will benefit the M40 group. In total, RM900 million in government tax income reduction will go to benefit 2.4 million Malaysian taxpayers.
The federal government has also agreed to contribute RM500 for EPF members who have less than RM10,000 in their EPF accounts, benefitting about 2 million EPF members and costing government about RM 1 billion. — DayakDaily
