Thank you Tuan Speaker for allowing me the opportunity to
debate on the Budget
Tuan speaker,
The basic functions of any elected democratic government are
to safeguard the interests of the peoples, to make their lives easier, to
protect them and of course to inspire them with hope.
The budget is of course very important as it shows how the government is going to
allocate and share the resources, in the most basic form it is “who gets what,
when and how?”
Legislatures play an important role in monitoring government
budgets. Most democratic constitutions demand that parliament/state assembly
deliberates on and approves the annual budget. Transparency and accountability
are only achieved through independent checks on the integrity of a budget. Is
government doing what it says it will be doing and is the monies spent to
benefit the peoples? Parliament/state assembly is an ideal place to promote
openness and debate around budgets.
Monitoring government budgets is also conducive to better
decision-making within government and prevents leakages. It provides a forum
for purposeful and concrete engagement between the executive, the legislatures
and civil society around critical choices and allocation of resources.
That is why we are here and that’s why it is important for
the Speaker of the House to allow healthy debate and allow questions to be
asked of the Cabinet about the budget. More importantly, the Speaker should direct the Ministers to answer the questions if the
whole process is to become more meaningful.
The goal of the budget is supposed to ensure that public
funds will be spent in accordance with the needs of the people, ensure that
public projects are structured to benefit the peoples as opposed to politically
well-connected as well as enabling Sarawakians to achieve greater economic
freedom.
But in Sarawak, the BN government has all this while has a
free hand as the state legislative has become the rubber stamp of the executive
branch and the opposition has been bombarded like “Pearl Harbour” in the Dewan
even though we are just discharging the duties of the elected Wakil Rakyat by
asking questions and moving motions for the betterment of the rakyat.
The budget of Sarawak is the largest among all the states in
Malaysia but on the other hand we are still one of the poorest states in
Malaysia. There must be something wrong and the BN government must be held
answerable.
A good budget is more than just numbers or the reserve we
hold but how it affects and helps the peoples to be financially independent,
care for the less privileged and be able to achieve a balanced distribution for
all sectors of society through the government ministries.
In Sarawak we have a
strong and rich state government but to be more precise a strong and rich CM
who controls (64%) of the state revenues through his holding to the post of the
CM, Finance Minister and the Minister of Resource Planning and Environment.
There has been a over
centralization of power and fiscal allocations in the hand of the Chief
Minister and yet the BN law makers do not utter a single word of concern or
cast any doubt on the distribution of power and that is why the rakyat has
placed all their hope on the PR’s elected wakil to speak out for them in this
Dewan.
In the 2011 State Budget, out of the estimated Operating
Expenditure of RM1,343.7 million, RM646.2 million (48.1%) was allocated to the
three ministries headed by the Chief Minister, leaving the remaining RM697.5
million (51.9%) to be shared by the other 10 ministries.
Out of the estimated Development Expenditure of RM3, 630.3
million, RM2, 537.0 million (69.9%) was allocated to the three ministries
headed by the Chief Minister, leaving the remaining RM1, 093.3 million (30.1%)
to be shared by the other 10 ministries.
Such concentration of power defies the principles of
economic efficiency and accountability and maybe that’s why we are still the
poorest state in the country.
Our CM in his budget speech talked about the Government
Transformation Progamme and the Economic Transformation Programme and talked that
the Budget focuses on five key areas as follows;
11)
Boosting investment activity;
22)
Strengthening education and training;
33)
Inculcating innovation and increase
productivity;
44)
Fiscal
consolidation and enhancing the public service delivery; and
55)
Enhancing the well-being of the rakyat.
However good that might sound the facts remained that the
there are some structural flaws that he never addressed in the Budget and all
the rhetoric will not solve the problems we face as a state.
The state government
budget over the years has the following characteristics; Structural flaws
11) Over
centralization of power in a person and he controls it all.
Nothing in the Barisan Nasional spending plans indicated any
political will to tackle structural problems blamed for the state’s lack of developments.
The CM decision is final and his cabinet and the BN’s Adu as we see it only toe his line. There are 13 ministries and the CM controls
more than 60 % of the annual budget which is evidence of the over
centralization of power.
22) Corruption,
poor governance and political patronage remain widespread; families and cronies
getting the biggest share of the government’s projects.
Lands are taken by the politically well connected at a
fraction of the open market price and bridges are built by them and road
maintenance has been their monopoly as well.
33) Insufficient
time and chances for debate on the budget
Often, the government Bills and Budget is passed in a hurry without allowing
sufficient time to debate which is most unacceptable as the Bills and Budgets t
passed has a direct impact on the peoples and yet their representatives are not
given the time and chances to deliberate on and probe on the rationale behind
the critical choices and allocation.
The House clearly lacks the bipartisan spirit that puts the interests of the rakyat
above politics and that’s why there is never a healthy debate on the Budget for
the past decades as the BN law makers are seen as the mere rubber stamp of the
executive branch. How can we have good governance under the circumstances?
44) Poorest
not getting access to aids
According to the Malaysian Economic Monitor April report to
the Economic Planning Unit, only 27% of the country’s poorest 10% had received
help from the government.
This is especially serious in Sarawak as we have one
of the highest poverty rates in Malaysia and many of our folks in the rural
areas are without basic public utilities such as piped water, electric power
and clinics not to mention firefighting facility.
The above mentioned 4
structural flaws must be overcome first if the CM’s 5 key areas on the budget
can be meaningful at all. Without addressing the structural flaws, the budget
becomes just mathematics figures which cannot bring Economic Transformation to
Sarawak.
The CM always asks the Chinese community “what do you want?”
The question should be asked of all the
people in Sarawak and allow me to present their case here in this Dewan:
11) Equality
and fairness to all in the sphere of education
Again, we urge the state government to recognize the
multi-racial character of our society and the important role played by the
Chinese and Missionary schools in the state. The government needs to allocate
funding to these schools systematically through our state annual budget
Our DPM has on the 12th and 13th proudly announced that
Malaysia with its Chinese business community has become the power house of the
global economy because of the flourish of the Chinese dialects and I quote
“financial wizardry” of the Chinese business community.
He also proudly told the 4th World Chinese Economic Forum in
Melbourne, "Malaysia is the only country outside China with a Mandarin
education system available to its population from pre-school right up to
university. There are also many other non-Chinese background Malaysians who
study in Mandarin schools," he said.
So it is timely that the Sarawak state government comes into
the big picture and immediately announces that the state government will make
fixed allocation to all the Independence Chinese schools and Missionary schools
starting with the budget for 2013 but the budget presented by the CM failed to
address this important issue again and I can tell him that many are
disappointed by his budget on this issue.
22) Meritocracy
A) Award
of government projects
They want the government to replace special
privileges with meritocracy where fairness and equity prevails in the
allocation of the economy, such as the award of government’s development
contracts. However priority should be given to the locals to undertake the
project.
B) Public
service commission
Many complain that the current Public Service Commission is
discriminatory towards certain ethnic groups seeking to join the public service
sector. The Sarawak Public Service Commission has to set a mechanism as well as
a target to implement a fairer and equitable in-take of the public service
personnel among all the ethnic groups in Sarawak. The meritocracy system must
be implemented as well to make sure that only the best serves the rakyat.
According the answers
given to me by the CM on the question (no. 9) I asked in the last DUN sitting,
out of the 104,499 federal civil servants
serving in the state only 14% are
non-Bumiputra and this does not argue well for a multi-racial society like
Sarawak. Indeed, one might add “where is meritocracy?”
33) Bipartisan
They want to see a bipartisan DUN where the interests of the
peoples come first and the majority in the Dewan must respect the minority in
every aspect.
Development
funds/Projects for constituency
On development funds, I urge the BN state government to
allocate development funds to all elected Wakil Rakyat of each constituency
regardless of the political affiliation of the elected Wakil Rakyat as they
were duly elected by the rakyat who they represent. After all, we all pay taxes
and we are free to vote for any political party or any individual.
44) CAT
and good governance
They want to see good governance where competency,
accountability and transparency reign.
In the 2013 budget,
just like the previous years’ budget, the largest single item (RM 1, 855.00
million) in the Name of “GOVERNMENT CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS APPROVED AGENCIES TRUST FUNDS” accounted for almost 46% of the Estimated Development
Expenditure (RM 3,965.46 million) and yet there is no explanation whatsoever as
to what Funds and how they are administered. This is totally unacceptable and
could become the biggest leakages in the history of Malaysia. Where is
transparency? Where is accountability?
Government projects and procurement over the sum of RM
50,000.00 must be given based on open tender system so that there is no more
excuse such as “overpriced” supplies and accountability must be strictly
enforced.
No government projects or state land should be given to the
cabinet minister, assistant ministers and political secretaries, elected ADUN
and their immediate families to show transparency which the BN state government
still failed to deliver on this all important issue.
55) Create
a caring society
Low Cost Houses
Build more low cost houses for our fellow Sarawakians to
apply. We need to build more quality low cost houses in every division in
Sarawak so as to improve the standard of living for Sarawakians.
Before I came to this Dewan sitting, I was hopeful that the
Minister of Housing has something good to present on this issue and the budget of
2013 has substantial allocation for this sector but again in the 2013 budget
just presented by the CM I did not see any substantial allocation at all by the
state government.
Caring for the less
privilege
The Social Welfare, Women Affairs and Family Development
department over the past three months has delayed in paying out the welfare
checks to those who are entitled and this has put a lot of stress and burden on
those who needed the help to make ends meet. I have been told that the payment
for the month of August, September and October 2012 had been delayed. According
to the welfare department of Sibu, they did not receive the money from the
state government and we would like the Minister in charge of the social welfare
to enlighten us as to why and how that could happen under her watch.
6
p6) Peace
and security
They want the government to guarantee peace and security for
them.
The government says
the police are everywhere, but obviously that’s not true as the peoples do not
feel the same way. The crimes rates in Sibu and Sarawak are climbing fast
although the police produce figures that show otherwise. The reason for the
conflicting figures is the loss of faith of the general public on the police
and they feel that it is a waste of time to report the crimes.
How can we blame them when the OCPD/KPD of the Sibu police
(November 6th 2012) went to the press to tell the folks that the police are not
ruling out the possibility of engaging the Bomoh to solve a shooting case that
rocks Sarawak?
He has made a mockery of the police force and this has
eroded all the confidence there is left of the public on the police force.
Cyber gambling is so rampant in Sarawak and the social ill
that it brings have made many families broken and many youths have resorted to
robbery and theft to settle the gambling debt thus contributing to more crimes
against the society at large.
I hereby urge the
state government to request that a police task force be set up to tackle the
cyber gambling immediately and a hotline be established so that the general
public can report the illegal gambling directly.
7
77) Invest
in the future; Free Wi-Fi for all; for a knowledge society
The future of the country and the state depends on education
and IT information and we need to nurture the youths to produce the brain of
the nation. Currently only the PR’s state of Penang has implemented the free
Wi-Fi internet access while Selangor will start next year.
Sarawak with its huge state reserve of RM 18.64 billion
surely can afford to give free Wi-Fi internet access to its peoples and create
history to be the first BN held state to take such a pragmatist approach to
create an informed and IT literate society.
Telekom Malaysia must be condemned for the frequent
interruption of Streamyx broadband services which had caused much grievance to
the peoples in the state.
88) Infrastructures
Roads and drains in
Sibu
The AG’s report for
2012 has pointed out that the local council in Sibu(SMC) has failed to fully
utilized the grants from the federal and state government from 2009-2011. Out
of the total sum of RM 62.17 million only RM 49.03million was utilized, we
would like the Minister of Local Government and Community Development to explain to the House where are the rest of the
money?
We would consider it leakage if there are no proper and
acceptable explanations’ with fact and figures to back up.
Roads in Sibu
1The roads in Sibu are some of the worst in
Sarawak’s major townships and the government must allocate more funds to
upgrades all the major roads in Sibu which among others are Jalan Tun Ahmad
Zaidi Adruce, Jalan Deshon and Jalan Teku just to ention a few.
l Lamp posts-
There are many areas in Sibu where there isn’t street
lighting and lamp posts along the major roads and streets;
1) Ulu Sg. Merah
Lorong 38-48, residents moved into 5 years ago and yet the road between
lane 38-48 are still without lamp posts.
2) The middle 2 km stretch of Jalan Tun Ahmad Zaidi
Adruce linking the Salim road to the Sibu-Bintulu road to the airport is
not even planted with lamp posts. Countless accidents had happened over the
years. No lamp posts almost 10 years after its completion, Believe it or Not!?
To wind up, I would like to
take this opportunity to challenge the CM to do the following:
a. Direct all the ministers, assistant
ministers, political secretaries to declare their personal and families’ asset,
b. Implement open tender system ;
all government contracts and procurements exceeding RM 50,000.00 must call for
open tender and not just a few selected are short listed,
c. Forbid all the ministers,
assistant ministers ,political secretaries and
ADUN and their families to tender for government’s contract, and
d. Forbid all the ministers,
assistant ministers, political secretaries and elected ADUN and their families
to apply for state land.
Only by addressing the structural flaws of the budget will
there be Hope for the people. The BN government must, as I said in my opening
address, “inspire
them (the people) with Hope!”
Thank you Tuan Speaker, with that I conclude my speech.
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