Former deputy minister Lajim Ukin told Parliament of the failures of the BN government to Sabah voters.
KUALA LUMPUR: Former Umno deputy minister Lajim Ukin told parliament that the Barisan Nasional government has no time for Sabah. He said this was despite the state’s loyalty to the federal government all these years.
Lajim, who is Beaufort MP, also indicated his support for the opposition after he had remained quiet over his political leanings since he quit the government, applauding Pakatan Rakyat’s promise to raise oil royalty payments to 20%.
Sabah is rich in oil and contributes some RM22 billion of oil revenue annually but enjoys a mere 5% return in royalty while government allocations to the state, one of the poorest in the country, is said to be comparatively low.
Lajim’s insinuation of support for Pakatan could see BN taking on a united opposition in the Sabah.
In his speech during the 2013 Budget debate in parliament, Lajim said the ruling coalition had failed to bring development in the state.
Compared to the 85% rate of completed paved roads in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah has only 35%. Connectivity is a key issue in the state which is why Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had announced increased allocations for road projects there.
But the former deputy minister, who was among the few other Sabah leaders who recently defected following disillusionment with the Najib administration’s failure to address the problems in Sabah, said none of the promises have been fulfilled so far.
“For 55 years BN have ruled and Sabah had contributed so much to the Malaysian economy since then but still it is one of the poorest state in the country.
“This shows that Sabah and Sarawak are never the government’s priority despite us being the fixed deposit for the ruling coalition. The Sabahan people have been sidelined,” he said.
Other Sabah BN leaders had also admitted recently that more must be done to improve the socio-economic situation in the state but so far none of them have been upfront about who is to be blamed for Sabah’s underdevelopment.
A Merdeka Center survey released on Friday showed that 57% were dissatisfied with the state’s economic performance and only 56% of Sabah voters were satisfied with the state government, a 6% drop from 62% in November 2009.
The report also showed a significant drop in the state’s chief minister Musa Aman’s rating.
From 60% in November 2009, it dropped to to 45% in September. The decline was most marked among Muslim-Bumiputera voters who are the backbone of the state’s Umno support, with a drop from 72% in November 2009 to 51% last month.
Analysts believe the recent defections in the state will alter the state’s and the national political landscape there, suggesting BN will face some hurdles in its stronghold in the upcoming polls.
KUALA LUMPUR: Former Umno deputy minister Lajim Ukin told parliament that the Barisan Nasional government has no time for Sabah. He said this was despite the state’s loyalty to the federal government all these years.Lajim, who is Beaufort MP, also indicated his support for the opposition after he had remained quiet over his political leanings since he quit the government, applauding Pakatan Rakyat’s promise to raise oil royalty payments to 20%.
Sabah is rich in oil and contributes some RM22 billion of oil revenue annually but enjoys a mere 5% return in royalty while government allocations to the state, one of the poorest in the country, is said to be comparatively low.
Lajim’s insinuation of support for Pakatan could see BN taking on a united opposition in the Sabah.
In his speech during the 2013 Budget debate in parliament, Lajim said the ruling coalition had failed to bring development in the state.
Compared to the 85% rate of completed paved roads in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah has only 35%. Connectivity is a key issue in the state which is why Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had announced increased allocations for road projects there.
But the former deputy minister, who was among the few other Sabah leaders who recently defected following disillusionment with the Najib administration’s failure to address the problems in Sabah, said none of the promises have been fulfilled so far.
“For 55 years BN have ruled and Sabah had contributed so much to the Malaysian economy since then but still it is one of the poorest state in the country.
“This shows that Sabah and Sarawak are never the government’s priority despite us being the fixed deposit for the ruling coalition. The Sabahan people have been sidelined,” he said.
Other Sabah BN leaders had also admitted recently that more must be done to improve the socio-economic situation in the state but so far none of them have been upfront about who is to be blamed for Sabah’s underdevelopment.
A Merdeka Center survey released on Friday showed that 57% were dissatisfied with the state’s economic performance and only 56% of Sabah voters were satisfied with the state government, a 6% drop from 62% in November 2009.
The report also showed a significant drop in the state’s chief minister Musa Aman’s rating.
From 60% in November 2009, it dropped to to 45% in September. The decline was most marked among Muslim-Bumiputera voters who are the backbone of the state’s Umno support, with a drop from 72% in November 2009 to 51% last month.
Analysts believe the recent defections in the state will alter the state’s and the national political landscape there, suggesting BN will face some hurdles in its stronghold in the upcoming polls.
15 comments:
Kerajaan telah membawa banyak pembangunan di Sabah, diharap akan berterusan.
Pembangkang lebih jangan banyak memutar belitkan keadaan.
Dulu masa Lajim masih bersama BN, beliau mengkritik PKR, tapi sekarang sudah change his mode.
Rahman Dahlan berkata, Lajim sudah "in the other side", jadi sekarang beliau akan menyokong Pakatan.
Sabah Chief Minister cum Minster of Finance, Datuk Sri Panglima Hj Musa Aman, in his speech to wind up the debate on the 2013 budger Sabah told that the state government had taken a dynamic approach in preparing the annual budget, taking great care to address the current situations and circumstances, especially those that affect the interest and welfare of the people, and it makes provisions on the strength of its own financial capability and federal allocations.
He told the House that the state revenues are steadily growing because there is an efficient management and collection machinery in place, mechanism that led to increased State revenue collection, as can be seen in 2007 when revenue soared to RM2.37 billion and reached RM3.3 billion in 2008.
“It then went up to RM4.368 billion in 2011, the highest level ever collected,” he said.
Musa did not take kindly to opposition member from Sri Tanjung, Jimmy Wong’s negative comments that the 2013 budget looked no different from the previous budgets.
“This is the view of people who can’t see the difference between right and the wrong. This is typical of the opposition who refuse to look and listen and always deny the achievements of the government.
They continue to tell the people that the Barisan Nasional (BN) Government is incompetent and incapable of doing anything right and does not struggle for the rakyat,” he said.
Musa went on to repudiate Wong’s claim that the State’s Consolidated Fund had shrunk. He said Wong knew nothing about the basis of State Budget planning. Reminding the House that there is a price to pay for the development and prosperity of the State and people, he stressed that the Government was prepared to spend a large sum on development even though doing so will reduce the State Consolidated Fund.
“What is important is the State’s financial reserve remains strong even though we increase expenditures,” he said.
Musa said that Petronas paid Sabah RM941.25 million in oil royalty this year – the highest amount ever in the State’s history. The amount exceeded the State Government’s initial estimate of RM774.6 million.
Taking a long-term perspective, the Chief Minister acknowledged that the state government must focus on revenues from investments in order not to rely too much on sales tax from crude palm oil and from oil royalties that together make up some 53.63 per cent of the state’s total revenues annually.
a total of RM960 million is set aside for trust share accounts, RM873.6 million for special fund projects under the oil palm industry, for repair of damages caused by natural disasters, to fund support infrastructure, for the construction and maintenance of government buildings, for grants to non-Muslim religious bodies and schools, for buying and maintenance of government vehicles, payment of State Government’s debts, payment to the water concessionaires as well as equity investments.
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