Ask Putrajaya for more money while waiting for autonomy, backbencher tells Sarawak assembly

Malay Mail

KUCHING, May 9 — Bawang Assan assemblyman Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh today called on the Sarawak government to ask Putrajaya for more development funds to repair its dilapidated schools, dormitories, and rural clinics.

He said the requests should be made since it takes time until Sarawak regains its autonomy over education and health.

“No matter how much we yell about getting the powers back, it will not be too soon as being emphasised by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusuf who had been tasked to chair meetings relating to Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63),” he said while debating Governor Tun Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar’s opening address at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly here.

“We can therefore expect a long legislative and administrative process of getting the power transfer,” Wong added.

He said the transfer of power is often a slow process due to red tape.

“Various steps have to be taken. The matter or issue in question must first be looked at, at the working committee level.

“If the issue cannot be resolved at the working committee level, the technical committee will come into play in finding a solution.

“Next the decision, if arrived at, will then be presented to the MA63 Implementation Action Council Meeting chaired by the prime minister.

“We therefore need a great deal of courage, patience and perseverance in seeing that our requests and demands can be carried through,” he said

Wong said there are many schools in Sarawak that are rundown, some severely.

He claimed that most of the 14 primary schools in his constituency are in urgent need of upgrading, adding that the student hostels and three clinics also need to be fixed.

The former state finance minister said Sarawak has “contributed significantly to the federal government coffer in terms of collection of taxes and revenue from oil and gas” and its funding requests deserved attention, adding that allocations had been skewed towards states in the peninsula for many years.