By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, May 28: The Sarawak government’s RM100 million allocation for overseas trips’ expenses this year is “more than double” the RM44 million spent by the entire federal Cabinet in 2024, says Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman, Chong Chieng Jen.
Chong, who is also Padungan assemblyman, made the comparison in response to justifications put forward in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUS) today, where his motion to debate ministerial overseas expenditure was dismissed under Standing Order 86.
According to Chong’s statement, he was denied the floor to debate his motion, while Kota Sentosa assemblyman, Wilfred Yap, was allowed to speak.
“In what seems to be a planned charade, he (Speaker, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar) allowed ADUN for Kota Sentosa to speak on the motion without even allowing me, the mover of the motion, to start the debate on the motion,” read the statement.
Chong also slammed the justification raised by Yap during the sitting, that he should instead ask the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, about the federal ministerial travel expenses, pointing out that such data is already publicly available.
“If the federal government can reply (to) such a question in Parliament, there is no justification why the State government cannot reply (to) such a question in DUS,” he said.
He pointed out that the RM100 million under Sarawak’s Supplementary Supply (2025) Bill is allocated specifically for “rental for air-chartered services” under the Premier’s Office alone, a figure that does not even include expenses incurred by the other ten State ministers or 26 deputy ministers.
Chong also questioned the Speaker’s rationale that the spending is justified by foreign investment inflows, highlighting a stark contrast: while Malaysia as a whole attracted RM378.5 billion in investments last year, Sarawak’s share stood at only RM14.12 billion (3.7 per cent) of the national total.
“How does that justify our spending being disproportionately higher than the federal government?” he asked.
Chong’s motion, which was rejected this morning, sought to review and overturn an earlier decision by the Speaker, who had disallowed a question on travel expenses during the sitting.
His motion was dismissed as “flawed”, as its contents pertained to a matter previously raised by Pending assemblywoman, Violet Yong.
Beyond the issue of standing, Asfia also cited procedural failings, including the motion exceeding the 250-word limit set by parliamentary practice. The motion contained 411 words.
In addition, the motion was also ruled to have failed to comply with the notice period stipulated under Standing Order 23(1).
The motion, dated and received May 27, 2025, was submitted just one day before the sitting, falling well short of the ten-day minimum requirement.
On May 21, 2025, the matter, raised by Yong was rejected on the grounds that it contravened public policy.
On May 26, 2025, the question was disallowed for the second time based on the Machiavellian doctrine that the end justifies the means, and that, given the scale of foreign investments, the question was disallowed and leave was given for the minister’s refusal to answer. –DayakDaily
