Would be good if DCMs' dissatisfaction is translated into Sabah Assembly resolution, teases Ewon

6 Dec 2021

By Wartawan Nabalu News

KOTA KINABALU: Kadamaian State Assemblyman Datuk Ewon Benedick has today teased the two Sabah Deputy Chief Ministers about their dissatisfaction with the 2022 Federal Budget on the allocation given for Sabah development.

“The Deputy Chief Ministers (Datuk Bung Moktar and Datuk Jeffrey Kitingan) have voiced their dissatisfaction on the 2022 Federal Budget for Sabah. How good would that be if the dissatisfaction were translated into a State Legislative Assembly (DUN) resolution so that we could better demand our rights using the DUN platform.

“We were also appalled after being told through a reply in the Dewan Rakyat that none of the procurement of physical development projects through direct negotiation was given to Sabah during the Emergency period. We are already lagging behind in the vaccination programme during Emergency and our hospital facilities has once reached a critical stage, but we were completely ignored when we need immediate attention to our needs here in Sabah,” he said.

Ewon said this during his debate in the 2022 Sabah Budget at the DUN, today.

Both Sabah Deputy Chief Ministers, Bung and Jeffrey, have expressed dissatisfaction with the Federal Government's allocation that will be channeled to Sabah in the 2022 Federal Budget.

Earlier in his speech, Ewon suggested that the Sabah Government come up with a special budget that truly reflects the efforts of economic recovery through the financing of the Federal Government's accumulated debts under Article 112 C&D of the Federal Constitution.

“We can use the Sabah Legislative Assembly platform to gazette new enactment to collect 40 per cent of federal revenue from Sabah to fund our special economic recovery projects as I proposed, namely the Sabah Post Covid-19 Special Budget.

"All this time, we have been too scared and subject to the Federal rules. I think this is a very suitable time for the Federal Government to submit to the authority of the State Government which can be strengthened through this DUN,” he asserted.