Guan Eng Pledges RM1 Billion To The Dayaks
(Malaysian Mirror) – SRI AMAN – DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng on Sunday pledged an annual RM1 billion allocation to establish the Dayak Endowment Fund should Pakatan Rakyat (PR) come into power after the April 16 Sarawak election.
“We will provide the annual RM1 billion allocation to establish the Dayak Endowment Fund, in order to provide much-needed infrastructure and basic amenities like roads, water and electricity to the Dayak and other communities. They must enjoy direct access wherever they may be in Sarawak so that they can have a higher quality of life and bring them back to the economic mainstream.” he said in his statement.
Lim added that this RM1 billion is on top of the RM1 billion Poverty Eradication Fund aimed at eradicating hardcore poverty in the state.
He said that the Dayaks make up the largest percentage of the population of Sarawak but are also among the poorest.
To fund the two programmes, Lim said that PR will demand that Sarawak receives 20% oil royalty instead of the 5% it currently receives from the Federal Government or by cutting down on corruption.
“The land of Sarawak belongs to the people of Sarawak, and therefore only ordinary Sarawakians should be allowed to acquire them. Currently, political and public positions are abused in order to gain valuable land across the state while ordinary Sarawakians find it difficult to obtain land.”
