Jeffrey Kitingan (GRS-Keningau) said despite the fact that a new government was in power in Putrajaya, the allocation of RM6.5 billion for Sabah and RM5.6 billion for Sarawak appeared to follow an “old formula”.
He said the allocations for the two states represented just 13% of the RM99 billion development budget.
The remaining 87% is to be spent in West Malaysia.
Kitingan said development allocations should be split equally between East and West Malaysia as Sabah and Sarawak were lagging behind.
“Sabahans would surely feel sidelined (by the budget) because Sabah is the poorest state in Malaysia. I’m embarrassed to say so.
“Eight of the 10 poorest districts (in the country) are in Sabah and the GDP per capita in Sabah is only half of the national average. This is worrying.
“Allocate 50% for West Malaysia, 25% for Sabah and 25% for Sarawak. This way we can catch up with West Malaysia, which is already 20 to 30 years ahead,” he said when debating the supply bill in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Kitingan, a Sabah deputy chief minister, said the federal government had not taken into account the land mass in Sabah and Sarawak in deciding on the allocations for both states.
He said there were districts in Sabah bigger than entire states in the peninsula, citing the example of Keningau, which is as big as Penang, Perlis and Melaka combined.
“I hope this will be taken into consideration in future budgets,” he said.
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