Prime Minister, Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak in his presentation of RMK11 in the Parliament this morning, did not look into the long-term plights of Sabahans. Sabah used to be the wealthiest founding country of Malaysia, in comparison with other states, yet Sabah’s status has been deteriorated, and from a founding country it has becomes the source for expropriation of wealth for Malaysia.
According to the GDP in 2010, the economic growth rate of Sabah is the lowest in the nation, merely 3%, on par with the smallest state of the country, Perlis, and lower in 50% compare to the national average rate, 6.2%.
The Sabah state government that helmed by the Chief Minister, Musa Aman, has been all this while declared that Sabah is obtaining a good economic growth, but this is in contrast with the reality, the figure is embarassing for Musa Aman.
As a Sabahan, I’m extremely disappointed with the Barisan Nasional government. Sabah as the second largest state, blessed with so rich of natural resources, but as a consequences of BN’s governance, it has becomes a place with the lowest economic growth, least infrastructure, severest security problems, and most illegal migrants, and worse still, all these problems seems unending.
The question that I would like to ask is, if the government failed to provide a set of solutions for the problems of illegal migrants and security issues that have plagued on Sabah for long time, then can this RMK11 that looks appealing and grandeur truly be implemented and help Sabah growth in economy?
Sabah is the richest during the time of formation of Malaysia, yet it has becomes the victim of the federal government’s reneged on its promises. After the foundation of the nation, the so-called transformation and development in Sabah context, is actually “increasing the citizens in large scale.”
The numbers of the illegal migrants has been increased unceasingly, the problems became worse, and causing the security problems, especially the safety of east coastline, where it is under the threats of foreign militia. I would like to insist that Sabah DAP does not object to the needs of bring in the foreign workers to fulfil the market demands, yet this must undergoes the legal process and control.
The safety of Sabah must be handled with effective and wise measures. Otherwise, it will indirectly affect on Sabah’s economy, because the tourism sector is the major source of income for Sabah. Security problems will damage the tourism.
The population of the illegal migrants in Sabah has already exceed 27% of the total population of the state, this is the biggest “achievement” of Sabah BN, and this is the biggest dilemma facing by Sabah at this time, and the culprit is the incompetence and negligent in enforcement of Sabah BN government.
Will the slow economic growth, dramatic surge in the illegal migrants help on the economic growth of Sabah? Perhaps some people might think that RMK11 is the “warm up” for our country to be transformed into the developed country in five years time, but for Sabah, we will only transform into the “heaven of illegal migrants” successfully.