KUCHING, Sept 8: Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Youth wing is disappointed with Minister of Education Dr Maszlee Malik’s announcement that only RM100 million would be allocated to Sarawak this year to repair dilapidated schools.
Its chief, Michael Tiang, said this allocation was actually “old news” because it was pre-approved from a total budget of RM2.7 billion for the whole of Malaysia under the previous government under the 11th Malaysia Plan (RMK11).
“The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government and their Sarawak MPs used to criticise the previous government for neglecting the needs of Sarawak schools. But now the education minister has visited the schools and even wept to see their dilapidated conditions.
“But he only continued to use the pre-approved funds to help Sarawak schools instead of reviewing the budget and increasing the allocation,” lamented Tiang.
Tiang maintained that many dilapidated schools in the state were in urgent need of remedial actions and this could not be compromised.
He reminded the PH government that this was not the time to play politics but to lead the country and provide solutions to the many problems ailing Sarawakians.
“We also urge all lawmakers from PH Sarawak to stand together with us to voice our Sarawak needs to the new government to fight for new welfare, new wealth and new allocations,” he said. — DayakDaily
