PAKATAN Haparan talked a good game about wanting to help East Malaysia, but proceeded to cancel small-scale infrastructure projects which are critical for the region’s development, an opposition lawmaker said.

Batang Sadong MP Nancy Shukri said that when Pakatan Harapan took over the reins of government on May 9, it cancelled scores of projects for Sarawak that had been approved in the 2018 budget.

These projects, worth RM20,000 to RM30,000 each, had been approved by the former Barisan Nasional government to develop Sarawak, Nancy told the audience at a forum organised by think-tank IDEAS.

Meanwhile, the Pakatan administration had continued to fund projects in states that it controlled, such as Penang and Kedah, she said.

Nancy questioned the need for such ventures as the Penang undersea tunnel and a second airport for Kedah while funds for Sarawak are slashed.

At the same time, Pakatan leaders accused Sarawakian lawmakers for being “obstacles” to efforts to restore autonomy to the region – a move the federal administration claims will benefit the state but one which Sarawak politicians are wary of, she said.

All the projects were cancelled after the government changed and that is sad because they are needed, Nancy told the audience at the forum, The Next Four Years: What Now for Malaysia? organised by the Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs.

“Here (on the peninsula) you can talk about the third national car project the tunnel in Penang. You have a bridge but you want a tunnel and in Kedah, you already have an airport but you want another one,” she said.

“But compared to you, our needs are more pressing. Why did you have to cut the funds for us? Don’t say you don’t have the money because the money is already there, because it was already set aside for us.” – June 28, 2019.