Withdraw support for Umno and BN, urges Jeffrey

It is high time for the Sabah and Sarawak governments to reassess their support of the Umno/BN federal government because of the continued disregard by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak on the importance of the Borneo states, said Sabah Star chairperson Jeffrey Kitingan.

“Whilst the prime minister continues to disregard the importance of the two states and commits political hara-kiri in the process, it is high time the two state governments consider their support for the Umno/BN government.

“Perhaps, a withdrawal of support and change of the federal government may bring about a better Budget 2015 for Sabah and Sarawak and a shot in the arm for both local economies and a better outlook and way of life for Sabahans and Sarawakians,” said Jeffrey in a statement emailed to Malaysiakini.

Commenting on Budget 2014, he said: “An allocation of RM2billlion to RM3 billion development expenditure for Sabah and Sarawak is a slap to the status of the equal partnership of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia.    

“Part of this allocation, RM500 million, is for upgrading of the Pan-Borneo Highway. This is a disgrace and totally unacceptable. For the record, RM400 million was announced for the 33km-long Sibu-Kapit road.   

“How far can RM500 million do for the Pan-Borneo Highway?” he asked.

Recently, the Sabah JKR director lamented that due to the backlog or disregard of Sabah’s requests, RM2 billion was needed for urgent road repairs in Sabah and another RM700 million was needed to urgently repair and upgrade 65 bridges in Sabah.  

“Yet, there is not even a mention of any allocation in Budget 2014 and this is not the right way to treat Sabah which contributed 22 out of 25 MPs that helped keep the Umno/BN federal government in power,” he pointed out.

Jeffrey said: “The Budget 2014 must have been a huge disappointment to Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan, PBS and many others in Sabah and clearly demonstrates the continuing mindset of the prime minister and his federal government.

“The PM himself had whipped up expectations of Sabahans, especially the PBS delegates at their general assembly, by asking Sabahans to wait for Friday’s Budget announcement,” he said.

‘Handouts not the right approach’

On Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M), Jeffrey said that giving of handouts is not the right approach and there is no need to fish for votes as the election season is over.  

“Such handouts will only lead to bigger expectations and eventually greater dependency, especially among the rural poor. The government should have invested more money in boosting the income earning capacity of the poor,” he said.

He criticised the government for giving RM75 million worth of water tanks to the rural voters, pointing out that it is no way to treat the rural voters who voted to retain the Umno/BN federal government.   

“If not for the 25 BN MPs in Sarawak, Budget 2014 would have been presented by a different finance minister,” he said, adding that it would have been better to spend RM500 million on 20 water treatment plants at RM25 million each to provide clean piped water in rural Sarawak, given the many big dams there.

“Instead, some of the items will bring about an instantaneous price increase including withdrawal of sugar subsidies. What was more laughable was the reason bordering on absurdity that the subsidy cut was required to reduce diabetes in Malaysia?   

“It is an undisputed medical fact that diabetes is not caused by sugar alone and a lower sugar intake alone does not reduce the diabetic rate,” he said.

Jeffrey said that Sabahans and Sarawakians have been waiting eagerly for an announcement on the much awaited abolishment of cabotage policy.

“The abolishment of this policy would have created a bigger impact in reduction of costs compared to the RM331 million to continue the price uniformity programme and subsidies including transport cost and RM30 million for an additional 60 Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M) to help reduce the prices of daily necessities,” he said.

He  urged the both the federal and Sabah governments to undertake a study on the impact of the KR1M in Sabah as there are complaints that the KR1M has affected the small sundry and provision shops in Sabah and many will eventually close down.“As for the goods and services tax (GST), both the federal and Sabah governments need to reassess the imposition of GST in Sabah.    

“If the federal government can have implemented 1-country 2-laws on the ‘Allah’ issue which indirectly is recognition of the 1-country 2-systems, the federal government can exempt Sabah and Sarawak from the GST scheduled in 2015, at least for three to five years,” he added.