Speech by Dr. Hiew King Cheu during Budget 2010 Debate in Parliament on Wednesday, 4^th November 2009:

Federal government is not being fair to East Malaysia in terms of National Budget

On the special status of Sabah in Malaysia, our rights and interests are spelled out in the 20 points in the Malaysia Agreement made in 1963. Today, we see that had been systematically ignored, and we are being treated rather unfairly. In terms of the National Budget, we see a diminishing amount allocated year by year. This reflects the Federal government is not being fair to East Malaysia, and these reflected badly on the “1-Malaysia” concept. We therefore called for a review and urged everyone to honor the 20 points.

On the rural economy, this is an integral part of the national development plan and goal. This is vital to the many hundreds of thousands of the poor kampong people classified under the rural hardcore poverty. What has the government taken up to assist these poor people who had been neglected through-out the past 46 years? There is no positive and concerted effort put into the eradication of poverty, but we only repeatedly hear announcement one after another. Our country side in Sabah and Sarawak has huge economic opportunities which remained untapped and unexplored. The government intervention is necessary to expedite the economy growth in the rural districts. Besides, the private entrepreneurs should be encouraged by the government with its assistance to invest in the scope of farming or agriculture development, and to enhance the important food security in Malaysia. To do this we might have to provide free land use from the huge land bank held by the government, and adequate financial assistance. Sabah and Sarawak can be the “Food Production Hub” for Malaysia due to its vast cultivable land area available. Foreign investors and agriculture companies have shown interest.

On the health services in Sabah, we faced the problem in not having a main building block for the Kota Kinabalu General Hospital to house our patients. The problem needs solving immediately, and we can not wait until the 10th Malaysia Plan for the twin-tower hospital blocks to be built. Definitely, there must be some measures that can be implemented right away. Sabahan are very disappointed over this, when compared to the under utilized billion ringgits hospital in the rural towns in Sabah. It is the obligation of the Federal government to provide good health care for the Sabahan. We also question the ratio on the health providers, why government shared only 40% and the private sectors 60%? Can the government ensure or input with a bigger share? Sabah needs more specialist doctors and medical personnel with more advance equipments and facilities to ensure that the health of Sabahan is not taken for granted by the Federal government.

The infrastructure development in Sabah and Sarawak has always been the last on the long list of the Federal budget, and we get the least amount. That is why after 46 years of Malaysia, we still have the worst roads in Malaysia. The roads are vital to our rural folks to transport their agriculture produce and other necessary goods, the bad road system will post a higher cost for the rural folks. We see a tough time ahead of us, especially now with a further cut on the expenditure on infrastructure spending. For Sabah and Sarawak, we deserved to have a bigger amount to speed up with the infrastructure development that we did not have for the past decades. If BN still wants to maintain Sabah and Sarawak as their “Fixed Deposits”, then give Sabah a fair answer.

The industrial development must be encouraged, if we want to see positive economic growth in Sabah. This has been lagging behind due to many affecting factors, of which the most obvious is the lack of encouragement and assistance from the Federal government, and financing enhancement from our financial institutions. The foreign investor is often scared off due to the ill power and water supply system which are costly and coupled with frequent interruption. The market is not conducive enough to attract investors, especially hindered by lack of raw materials, semi and skilled labor, bad infrastructure set up, and weak in international competition. The government should therefore provide multi attractive incentives to promote and to bring in the foreign industrial investors into Sabah. These must be high-lighted and be included in the budget. There is also a need for the government to strengthen the role of industries association with the technology development in order for the advancement of industries in Sabah.

The Oil and Gas revenue sharing received by Sabah is getting less and less through the number of years. This is largely due to the drop in the production of the crude oil and gas, and seriously affected by the international prices. There is an urgent need to allow Sabah to have a bigger sharing on the “Mother Earth’s Gift”! The request of the Sabahan is repeatedly mentioned over the years, irrespective whether opposition or ruling party. We needed the money for the development in Sabah, and for the well being of the Sabahan. On fairness and equality, we again urge the Federal government to consider our pledge to increase the share on the oil and gas revenue.

The human resources and capital is an important issue to be addressed. There is a serious situation of brain-drain and young Sabahan moving away from the state to work in other states or countries. Just in Kuala Lumpur, there is an estimated of 160,000 young Sabahan working in various sectors. The government must establish ways and means to retain this valuable asset of the country and provide ample jobs opportunities at home. The many jobs opportunities created by the government are often filled up by foreign workers, legal or illegal. This is a total lost, we trained our young, but others outside Malaysia ripped their expertise and service. Thus, the government must install measures to protect our investment in the human resources and capital.

The government has failed to remove the many illegal immigrants in Sabah, more are coming into Sabah, and some had already obtained MyCard. The RM 50 million spent last year on removing these people seems ineffective. There are 2.5 millions foreign workers out of a total work force of 12.5 million people. These foreigners made up almost 20% of the labour force in Malaysia. They sent a total estimated sum of RM1 billion yearly away from Malaysia to their home countries, this created a serious outflow of money. The government must develop a counter measure to reverse the impact. May be by way of fully deploy our own local work force with higher pay and benefits, or promoting the greater participation of women, mechanization and automation, that will help in the long term.

* Hing King Cheu, MP for Kota Kinabalu