Perak will not come out from its poor economic doldrums unless it gets fairer Federal Government allocations and the participation of Federal Government related companies and the investment of the private sectors. BN Perak Government must not act like a beggar or subservient servant when facing the Federal Government.

Sitiawan State Assemblyman Dato’ Ngeh Koo Ham has expressed his regret that YAB Menteri Besar of Perak, Dato’ Seri Zambry Bin Abdul Kadir did not have other proposals except for the RM1.0 billion that he presented in the 2015 Perak budget as the basis for the development of Perak.

Dato’ Seri Zambry has presented a budget of RM1,050,518,473-00 out of which RM27,515,616-00 for Liability, RM680,202,857-00 for Supply and RM302,710,000-00 for the Development. Ngeh said in the 1950s, Perak was richer than Selangor (Kuala Lumpur was then part of Selangor). Perak is now far behind Selangor and Kuala Lumpur. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Perak in 2013 was RM41,787 million or 5.3% of the national GDP of RM787,611 million while the GDP of Selangor was RM186,548 million or 23.68% and the GDP of Kuala Lumpur was RM122,050 million or 15.50%. GDP of Perak is only 13.5% of the combined GPD of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.

Ngeh said that the Perak budget of RM1.0 is only 0.36% of the Federal Budget of RM274 million. Ngeh is upset that Perak has not been allocated a fair share of the Federal allocations. For example, for the whole of the 10th Malaysian Plan from 2011 till 2015, Perak was allocated only RM4.45 billion of which RM3.12 billion has been disbursed as of December 2014. Ngeh opined that for the year 2015 alone, Perak should be allocated RM5.0 billion or 10% of the RM50.5 billion Federal Development fund for 2015.

Ngeh expressed regret that Zambry still expressed gratitude and appreciation to the Federal Government when allocations for Perak are unfair. Ngeh says Zambry should stop acting like a beggar or a subservient servant when facing the Federal Government. As the Menteri Besar of Perak, he should be brave to fight for Perak’s fair share of the Federal allocations.

Ngeh also called on the Perak Government to attract Federal Government related companies and agencies to have their activities in Perak which control hundreds of billions of ringgit in funds. Petronas, Khazanah Holdings Bhd, 1MDB, Putrajaya Holdings Bhd, Pembinaan PFI Sdn Bhd, Employees Provident Fund and Kumpulan Wang Amanah Negara have hundreds of billions of ringgit but these Federal Government linked companies and agencies’ presence is hardly felt in Perak.

Ngeh also emphasized that Perak has also to attract private investments to help it move forward due to its small annual budget.