THE 5% allocation of the national development budget to the state by previous federal governments is not only unjustifiable, it would also never allow Sarawak to be on par with states in the peninsula, the state’s Deputy Premier Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said. 

Hoping that the new national unity government would be more sympathetic and fairer to Sarawak and return its eroded rights as enshrined under the Federal Constitution, Awang Tengah said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim must also provide the state with more funds to close the development gap between the peninsula and Sarawak. 

“It is the expectation and the right of the people of Sarawak, as citizens of Malaysia, to be provided with sufficient funds by the federal government so that we can enjoy a better standard of living,” he told the state assembly today. 

“This is Sarawak’s right that should not be denied. After 59 years of the formation of Malaysia, we should not be seeing any more dilapidated schools in Sarawak. 

“We should no longer have terrible roads, inadequate water and electricity supplies, village clinics and hospitals that are not comfortable and much more.” 

Awang Tengah said he hoped the new federal government would not follow in the footsteps of the previous short-lived Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration that — once it came to power — started cancelling several projects despite having been approved by the outgoing Barisan Nasional (BN) government. 

On top of that, Awang Tengah said many of the electoral promises PH made were not fulfilled. 

The promises were to return 50% of tax collected in Sarawak, and increase the oil royalty from 5% to 20%. 

“Don’t be like the PH government. I hope this new government will learn the lessons of the previous PH government,” he added. – December 1, 2022.