‘Budget 2019 encompasses all sectors and strata of society’
KUCHING: Sarawak must not be misled by certain quarters that it has been sidelined by the federal government in the National Budget 2019.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said despite the bad financial shape of the country, the budget which was tabled by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng encompassed all sectors and all strata of society.
“When we tabled the budget, some politicians and members of the Sarawak government kept attacking us for the past two days in the press saying we did not take care of Sarawak, unlike former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who mentioned Sarawak and Sabah many times in his speech.
“But I would like to remind the ex-Barisan Nasional ( BN) leaders in Sarawak not to forget the reason we are in this very difficult financial situation today, which is due to the mismanagement of funds and the 1MDB scandal during Najib’s premiership,” he said when officiating at the 18th DAP Sarawak Ordinary Convention at Crown Square here yesterday.
He added that Sarawak politicians had also criticised the federal government for only allocating RM4.346 billion to Sarawak, a mere increase of RM10 million compared to last year’s budget, and that not much was given even though there is a special dividend of RM30 billion from Petroliam Nasional Berhad ( Petronas).
“This RM30 billion is not for any other expenses but to repay Malaysian tax payers for GST and income tax returns totalling RM34 billion, and I’m sure a big portion of this also belongs to Sarawakian tax payers.
“The RM30 billion cannot be utilised for development expenditure because we have to repay the GST and income tax returns, which were used by Najib’s administration in the past, but did not refund the money to taxpayers,” he said.
He gave the assurance that the government is committed to ensure that every single sen belonging to the country’s tax payers must be returned in 2019.
In his speech, Loke said the newly elected DAP Sarawak State Committee 2018-2020, which saw Chong Chieng Jen reelected as chairman, would face an uphill task in the coming Sarawak election.
“However, our mission is clear, which is to capture Sarawak and form the Pakatan Harapan ( PH) Sarawak government.”
The DAP National organising secretary said although DAP Sarawak might have an added advantage in the election due to PH being the federal government, this did not mean that the party would misuse its resources to help in their campaign.
“What we can help our Sarawak comrades is that all members of the federal government will work hard to change our policies...to implement good ones and prove to Sarawak voters that we can become a better government.
“We will put better governance in place and develop the country more progressively and that is how we will help our Sarawak comrades to win over Sarawak voters in the next election.”