KUCHING: The 2020 budget did not mention the promises made by Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders, said Tupong assemblyman Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman.
“I am looking at this year’s budget based on the promises that have been made by PH leaders at the federal and the state levels.
“One of it was to return 50 per cent tax collected to Sarawak.
“However, there was no mention of these in the budget,” he told New Sarawak Tribune yesterday.
Fazzrudin who is Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) deputy youth chief claimed that Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng was not being specific in the budget.
“That is where I see they might use that ‘vaguely presented budget’ to bargain out from delivering what they have promised in the budget. We will see,” he said.
On Oct 11, Lim announced that Sabah and Sarawak would receive RM5.2 billion and RM4.4 billion respectively in development expenditure next year. This comes to about 17 per cent of the total development expenditure of RM56 billion.
In addition, Lim had said the special grants under Article 112D of the Federal Constitution, which had not been reviewed since 1969, would be doubled to RM53.4 million for Sabah and RM32 million for Sarawak next year.
The government also plans to double the rate to RM106.8 million for Sabah and RM64 million for Sarawak within five years.
