Sarawak’s share too little, says Dr Chan

By Ting Tieng Hee and Zora Chan, The Borneo Post

It’s not enough. That was how Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan responded when asked for his comments of Sarawak’s share of the RM60 billion second economic stimulus package announced yesterday.

Dr Chan said Sarawak should get at least 10 per cent out of the RM60 billion because that the state is vast and still lags behind most other Malaysian states in physical infrastructure.

“The amount Sarawak and Sabah receive does not account for 10 per cent of the RM60 billion. It’s not enough unless each state gets 10 per cent (RM6 billion),” he said yesterday.

Dr Chan lamented that the RM1.2 billion allocated for both states for infrastructure and to spur economic activities was insufficient.

“Sarawak’s infrast-ructure development is far behind compared to Peninsular Malaysia. If the RM1.2 billion is for the state’s flood mitigation project alone, that is enough but not enough for overall infrastructure development in both states,” he added.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak unveiled a RM60 billion second stimulus package to insulate the economy from slipping into recession in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

Among others, the RM1.2 billion allocated was for providing infrastructure and increasing economic activities in Sabah and Sarawak; RM5 billion working capital guarantee scheme for SMEs as loans; and to assist businesses, the government would exempt levy payments to the Human Resource Development Fund for six months for employers in the textile, electrical and electronic industries effective Feb 1.

The government would also reduce the levy payment rate from one per cent to 0.5 per cent for all employers for two years effective April 1 which would save employers RM390 million in business costs.

Meanwhile, Second Finance Minister and also Minister of Environment and Public Health Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh was pleased that the construction of the Sibu Airport Terminal could be finally implemented.

He said the terminal project was proposed while Tun Mahathir Mohammed was prime minister and he had agreed to carry out its implementation. When the present Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over the premiership, the project was also brought up and discussed.

Wong said when Najib assumed the post of Finance Minister, he (Wong) together with Housing and Local Government Deputy Minister Datuk Robert Lau and Lanang MP Datuk Tiong Thai King had visited Najib twice concerning the project.

“We are very grateful that Najib has included this project in the second stimulus package,” he said.

Wong who is Bawang Assan assemblyman said airports in major cities and towns like Kuching, Miri and Bintulu had already been completed and in use while Sibu was the only town without an airport terminal.

He was confident that construction works for the terminal would commence soon so that the infrastructure project could help to stimulate the local economy.

But the government’s plan to provide training to the unemployed was met with scepticism from Kuching Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and Industry secretary-general Lee Khim Sin.

Lee, the assemblyman for Senadin, said he strongly believed that such trainings would not necessarily guarantee a person a job.

“After training, can you still get a job if there are no jobs around?” he pointed out.

He said he noticed that some proposals were short-term solutions rather than long-term such as contract workers in the civil service and temporary teachers.

He said the possibility of being retrenched or unemployed remained unanswered.

“After these temporary projects are completed, can they still continue working? It’s not wrong for the government to have trainings and short-term projects but it would be better if these were for long-term and aimed at increasing productivity,” he said.

Lee said if the government sincerely wanted to help small and medium industries (SMIs) and enterprises (SMEs), it should cut down the red tapes at bank counters.

This was because many applications for government fundings often met with a dead end because of banks’ tight procedures and control over funds.