Oleh : CHAN FOONG HIN
YESTERDAY was a historic day
for Pakatan Rakyat in Sabah. We unveiled the first ever Sabah Alternative
Budget entitled “People’s Economy, Reinstating Sabah’s Glory” (Merakyatkan
Ekonomi, Kebangkitan Sabah).
It is a historic day because
for the first time in the state’s history, the people of Sabah will be able to
compare and contrast the official state budget, which will be tabled in the
state assembly on Friday, 19th of October, 2012 with an alternative budget.
We are confident that the
people of Sabah will find PR Sabah’s budget to be much more appealing compared
with BN’s budget. Not only will the people of Sabah benefit directly from PR
Sabah’s budget in the short run, they and future generations will also reap the
rewards of the long term expenditure plans and initiatives which have been put
forth by us.
The cornerstone of this
budget is to outline how PR Sabah will spend the additional money the state
will receive from the increase in oil royalties from 5% to 20%, as promised in
Buku Jingga as well as the recently announced PR Budget 2013 at the federal
level, as well as additional funds arising from savings due to reduction in
corruption. PR Sabah envisions additional revenues of RM2.7b arising from the
increase in oil royalties and another RM800m in savings from corruption.
In addition, PR Sabah will
also reallocate RM1.1b of spending from the combined budgets of the Ministry of
Finance and the Chief Minister Department, which have expanded significantly
since 2008 under the control of a Chief Minister who is currently beset with
corruption scandal after corruption scandal.
In this budget, we outline
how this RM4.6b will be spent in a manner which will catapult Sabah to a new
growth trajectory that is more inclusive and sustainable. This will be achieved
via Five Thrusts: (i) Making Our Land Work (ii) Raising Disposable Incomes
(iii) Social Outreach for All (iv) Enabling & Empowering Local Communities
and (v) Improving Our Connectivity
PR Sabah promises to
eradicate hardcore poverty in 5 years and to reduce idle, unproductive land to
a bare minimum. PR aims to achieve this by embarking on an ambitious land
reform and development scheme that will benefit individual landowners and
smallholders rather than the big plantation companies which have made use of
the land in Sabah without uplifting the quality of life of most Sabahans.
PR Sabah will seek the
return of 306,000 acres of land given to FELDA in 1979 under the BERJAYA
government which not been allocated to smallholders as promised. We will also
set aside RM50m to establish a Sabah Land Tribunal to resolve Natives Customary
Rights (NCR) land disputes which currently covers 440,000 acres affecting
32,000 families.
Once these land disputes
have been resolve, RM350m will be used to assist these land-owners to make
their lands agriculturally productive including projects to build and widen
irrigation channels, allocations for land-clearing machines, tools and
fertilisers as well as the development of post-harvest facilities such as
processing, packing and marketing for higher value added products to absorb the
outputs from these agricultural activities.
We will provide the proper
incentives for smallholders to practice integrated farming which includes coca,
avocadoes, tapioca and rubber in order to diversify Sabah’s agricultural base
and not be overly dependent on oil palm.
At the end of five years, we
expect the smallholders to be earning between RM3000 to RM4000 a month, enough
to lift them out of the vicious poverty cycle.
PR Sabah believes that for
far too long, the people of Sabah have not benefitted from the proceeds from
the oil and gas sector. Indeed, even with the 2nd highest state budget in
Malaysia and with growing revenue from oil royalties, the majority of the poor
which makes up 19.7% of all households in the state do not benefit directly
from any assistance from the state government.
In recognition of this, PR
Sabah is proposing a number of social outreach programs, many of which have
been successfully implemented in other PR states such as Penang and Selangor,
to directly benefit the people of Sabah, especially among the poor.
PR Sabah is proposing a
minimum wage contribution of RM60 a month to all employees earning below RM1100
a month. This is in line with PR’s RM1100 minimum wage promise.
This contribution recognizes
that SMEs in Sabah will take time to adjust to this minimum wage, which is only
slightly higher than the Poverty Line Income of RM1048 a month in 2009. This
contribution will be given for 5 years at the end of which employers would be
expected to increase all salaries to RM1100 per month.
In addition, PR Sabah will
also introduce a Skim Bantuan Makanan (20kg rice and 1 gas cylinder per
family), a Skim Galakan Pendidikan (RM240 per year for one child living in
rural areas), a Tabung Anak Sabah (RM200 for new born babies) and a Skim Mesra
Usia (RM200 for senior citizens above 60 years of age).
These social outreach
programs, which are mostly aimed at the poor, will increase the wage of a poor
household with 2 senior citizen parents, a new born baby and with a single
income earner earning RM800 a month will see his or her income increased to
almost RM1000 a month.
Together with other social
outreach programs including assistance for hospital visits for those from the
rural areas and one-time grants for children starting tertiary education and
for the families of senior citizens who have passed away, poor households may
see their monthly income increase to over RM1400 a month.
Lest we are accused of
proposing a purely populist budget with the intention of buying votes using
future promised handouts, PR Sabah is committing 2/3rds or almost RM3b of the
proposed increased and reallocated expenditure of RM4.6b to development
expenditure.
A significant proportion of
this will be channeled towards Improving Connectivity in the state, which is
Thrust Five of PR Sabah’s budget. Apart from committing more resources into
road building, especially in the rural areas, PR Sabah is committed to finding
new and sustainable ways of improving electricity and water access in the state
including funding for the E-FIT system for renewable energy which is currently
being ignored by the state government and setting up local water supplies
systems that does not require expensive pipes and big treatment plants to be
built.
The detailed spending plans
and strategies outlined in PR Sabah’s budget is a vast improvement on past BN
budgets which have been opaque and not transparent, to say the least. For
example, the Ministry of Finance’s allocation skyrocketed from RM737m in 2008
to RM1.94b in 2012, a 263% increase. During the same time period, the overall budget
increased from RM2.3b in 2008 to RM4.1b in 2012, which is only a 76% increase.
More worryingly, some of the
increased allocations have occurred in items which are lacking in transparency.
For example, one single item under the budget estimates for the Ministry of
Finance entitled ‘Special Expenditure’ or ‘Perbelanjaan Khas’ came up to
RM1.13b, or more than one quarter of the total 2012 Sabah state budget.
There were no explanatory
notes as to what this item consisted of. What is more worrying is that this
‘Special Expenditure’ amounted to only RM654m just two years prior, in 2010!
In contrast, PR Sabah’s
budget very responsibly lists out the major spending items including programs
which will put money directly into the pockets of those who need it the most
meaning the poor and the marginalized in society.
Space limitations do not
permit a lengthier explanation of the other positive aspects of PR Sabah’s
budget. But suffice to say, we feel that it is a vast improvement to BN’s
offerings in the past as well as what the BN can offer in the future.
The spending priorities of
PR Sabah are a reflection of the overall strategies of PR state government in
Sabah over the next five years when additional oil royalties under the
increased 20% allocation are handed over by the federal government.
Together with a federal PR
government, a PR Sabah state government will fundamentally transform governance
as well as economic development in the state to lead Sabahans to a new era of
inclusive and sustainable growth that will benefit all its residents.
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