QUESTIONS still remain on how the federal government will use the RM1 billion loan provided by Sarawak to fix dilapidated schools in the state.

Education Minister Maszlee Malik, who flew into Kuching to discuss the issue with Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg this afternoon, initially told reporters after his one-hour plus meeting that “it’s on contra basis… back to the original proposal”.

However, a senior aide interjected and said “not exactly”.

When asked to explain, the reply was that an announcement will be made when the time comes.

As education is under the purview of the federal government, the state government had last year offered the cash-strapped Pakatan Harapan the loan to fix more than 1,000 dilapidated schools in Sarawak.

It was not until February that Putrajaya agreed to accept the loan, with the deal being that it would be on a contra basis – the amount to be offset against the state’s outstanding federal loan of some RM2 billion.

In less than a month, in a U-turn that baffled Sarawak leaders, Putrajaya went back on the deal, demanding instead that Sarawak transfer the whole RM1 billion to the federal government, to give Putrajaya the power to make the sole decision of how to use the fund.

The state chief minister rejected the proposal outright as there is no guarantee that the federal government would use the fund to fix the run-down schools in the state.

He also slammed Putrajaya for being too “egotistical” over the offer.

State Education Minister Michael Manyin last week said the reversal of the cabinet decision on the loan had made it difficult to do business with Putrajaya.

In a statement, Maszlee said the meeting with Abang Johari at his Wisma Bapa Malaysia office in Petra Jaya was “to refine the funding and project financing methods” to ensure that it could be monitored more closely and in a transparent manner. – April 24, 2019.