KUCHING, Oct 13: The rural infrastructure project allocation announced by the Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg in the Sarawak Budget 2022 is there to entice Sarawakian voters, says Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan.
Voon opined that the Sarawak Budget 2022 of RM10.136 billion with a total of RM4.803 billion or 64 per cent being allocated for rural based infrastructures projects and people centric programmes shows that the GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) is “desperate to cling to power”.
“The huge budget for rural areas shows that GPS is relying on voters in rural constituencies to stay in power.
“But the feedback that PBK has received is that people in rural areas this time will not be enticed with the huge allocation to vote for GPS. The reason is they have suffered for too long and need a new government,” he said.
Voon noted that the allocation will not help the rural folk improve their lives very much, as they have lagged too far behind and there are too many roads, bridges and schools in the rural areas that need to be repaired and rebuilt.
“Rural folks also need help to boost their agriculture and veterinary development, and I don’t see the GPS government being able to do it now. If they could, they would have done this much earlier,” he added.
Referring to the Sarawak Budge 2022, Voon also pointed out that there was no allocation to help the urban poor and homeless people in urban areas.
“The GPS government may not realise this, but there are many urban homeless people. There are many cases of families sharing the same room or house, crowding together in urban areas. This is not healthy,” he said.
Meanwhile, commenting on the bonus for federal civil servant in the State, Voon was of the opinion that the bonus should be funded by the Federal government.
According to him, PBK is not against the allocation of such a bonus, but the funds for this bonus should come from Federal coffers, not Sarawak.
“Being the kingmaker, GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) should be able to get the Federal government to come up with the funds for this bonus for Federal civil servants,” he said.” — DayakDaily
