Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii said based on this year’s record budget of RM372.3 billion, the development funds for Sabah and Sarawak decreased to 12% of the overall development expenditure.
He pointed out that in 2020 under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, the total development funds allocated to Sabah and Sarawak was 17.14% of the overall development budget. In 2021 and 2022 under Perikatan Nasional (PN) it was 13.91% and 12.9% respectively.
“While by quantum we do see an increase, it is still inadequate and more needs to be done to correct the imbalance in development in both our regions,” he said in a statement.
Yii added that he will raise the issue during the budget debate in Parliament as well as question why more funds were allocated to Sabah compared with Sarawak.
He also said there seemed to be a lack of transparency when it came to direct financial allocations to Sabah and Sarawak, especially under the constitutional special grants under Article 112D of the Federal Constitution.
In previous budgets, he said “special grants to Sarawak or Sabah” would be stated clearly with the amount displayed for transparency.
“It was through those figures that I was able to point out that there was a reduction of the special grant since 2021 when PN took over and since then they have reduced it by half of what was increased by PH,” he said.
Yii demanded that all expenditures must be used appropriately to make sure they reach the development needs of the people to prevent wastage or it being abused to enrich certain groups.
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