Budget 2018 disappointing — PKR Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: The 2018 national budget of RM280 billion is disappointing, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah chief Christina Liew said.

Liew was of the opinion that the budget was similar to previous years but without economic value and no employment opportunities for Sabahans.

She pointed out that the allocation for infrastructure development was for ‘normal’ development projects which the government is responsible for providing to the rakyat.

This, she opines, means the Barisan Nasional (BN) is only interested to garner the votes from Sabahans without taking into consideration their future in the five years after the 14th general election.

Liew pointed out that Pakatan Harapan’s alternative budget saw Sabah and Sarawak being allocated RM7.5 billion each compared to BN’s allocation of RM6.8 billion for both states.

At the same time Pakatan Harapan will also implement more transparent spending policies to reduce ‘leakages’ in the implementation of the projects, she said adding that this would ensure that the RM7.5 billion would be used with maximum accountability.

“The Pakatan Harapan government (if given the mandate) will increase the oil royalty for Sabah to 20 per cent from the current five per cent it is getting from the BN government,” she said.

“With higher royalty collected, the socio-economy of Sabahans can be improved and the government can focus on development projects that benefit the people such as in education and health,” she stressed.

“So we urge Sabahans not to be influenced by BN’s ‘candy’ budget so that they do not regret in the next five years. We in Pakatan Harapan will ensure that the allocation for Sabah will be fully utilised and benefit the people. The good news is that Sabah will be exempted from the GST if Pakatan Harapan governs the country,” she said.

Liew also questioned how the government is supposed to make up the RM40 billion shortage in the budget tabled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Friday.

“The government collects RM240 billion but spend RM280 billion - where is it getting the extra RM40 billion from? Also it is only spending RM46 billion on development but spending RM77 billion on managing the government and salary for civil servants etc,” she said.