VIDEO l 1:55 mins

The BN government has once again insulted Sabahans by snubbing the Borneo state's dire needs for better infrastructure and basic healthcare in its budget allocation for 2014, PKR said.

Citing how only RM2 billion, or 1 percent, of the RM246.2 billion national budget has been given to Sabah for special programmes next year, PKR supreme council member Roland Chia described it as "an embarrassment and insult."

NONEHe said Sabah's allocation echoes the raw deal that Sarawak received in the government budget.

"This shows that the BN government has failed to reward their so-called fixed deposit states of which both Sabah and Sarawak have delivered 46 BN MP seats to the ruling coalition," Chia (right) said in a statement.

On infrastructure projects, Budget 2014 only allocated a minuscule amount to the Pan Borneo Highway and not for Sabah roads as a whole, which he said amounted to a mere 0.003 percent of the entire national budget.

He added that the government further ignored a RM700 million request which the state public works department had asked for.

Key contributor

Chia noted that Sabah was a key contributor to the national coffers in terms of crude oil, gas and crude palm oil production. It is the top three oil and gas producer in Malaysia and the number one crude palm oil producer.

The lack of roads and public transportation meant that rural Sabahans were kept poor as children had no access to schools.

Furthermore, he said while diseases were mostly eradicated in the poorest countries, diseases such as leprosy and tuberculosis were making a comeback in Sabah.

"Tuberculosis, more commonly known as TB, is killing people on a weekly basis in Sabah and the spread of the disease is being pinned on the immigrants who have been pouring over its borders for years," Chia said.

He cited that local health authorities estimated that 200 deaths a year were recorded in Sabah from TB alone.

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