The budget for Sarawak is increased about RM1 billion from previous budgets but Sarawak government should not be happy with the increment because Sarawakians are not happy. Sarawak had contributed much to the revenues of the federal government not only from oil and gas resources but also from taxes collected by government departments.
Inland Revenue, Customs, police, Judicial and Land Transport Departments collected lots of taxes from Sarawak and what SARAWAK got over the years could not be able to boost the economy in Sarawak. For this reason Sarawak is a very backwards state in Malaysia.
Sarawak needs at least a budget of RM30 billion each year for the next 20 years to catch up with the development in MALAYA.
It has always been the case that Sabah used to get a larger budget than Sarawak but there had never been any justification by the federal government why Sabah being small than Sarawak should get a better deal to be in Malaysia. Or federal ministers from Sarawak or GPS government could not argue their case for Sarawak well?
I feel Sarawak is badly treated and it is time for Sarawakians to rethink the position of Sarawak in Malaysia caused by this discrimination.
Budget for the more developed states like Selangor Penang Johore Negri Sembilan Perak Pahang Melaka should be reduced and the budget allocated to them should be spread out to help Sabah and Sarawak.
The Prime Minister should in announcing the budget, remove taxes for tyres especially tyres of motorcycles and small motor vehicles because these are "poor man transport".
The prime minister should also reduce taxes for chicken and animal feeds imported into Sarawak. People in Sarawak are very poor and are not able to buy chicken and animal feeds. The expensive chicken and animal feeds has also caused prices of goods and essential services to be increased sharply especially after Chinese New Year.
Special, not general allocations should be announced to repair all dilapidated schools in Sarawak and also to disburse Sarawak government for money spent in building, rebuilding and repairing of schools which premier had announced recently.
It is speculated Sarawak lost about RM110 billion while Sabah lost about RM90 billion of their oil and gas resources each year to help the federal government
Voon Lee Shan
President
Parti Bumi Kenyalang