SIBU: Pakatan Harapan came for good hiding yesterday over a broken election promise to take good care of TAR University and TAR University College if it took over Putrajaya.
Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Dudong branch chairman Wong Ching Yong singled out Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng as the main culprit saying because he failed to keep his promise the two TAR institutions are now financially stressed.
Wong, a chartered accountant by profession, recalled that Lim Guan Eng (before he became Finance Minister) repeated the promise many times during his 14th general election (GE14) campaign.
Lim even promised that if PH won the GE14, each TAR University College student would receive RM1,000 every year.
A video clip showing Lim making the promise was played by the SUPP Dudong Branch Youth team and it drew guffaws from the crowd.
“Sadly, after PH formed the federal government, the allocation for TAR University College was reduced from RM30 million to RM5 million under this year’s national budget. Under the 2020 budget, it was further slashed to a meagre RM1 million.
“Presently there are about 30,000 students studying in TAR University College and with an allocation of RM1 million for 2020, it means each student would only get RM35 a year or RM3 a month or one sen a day,” Wong said.
The reduction in the budget showed that PH, particularly the DAP, was more interested in its struggle against the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) at the expense of the welfare of students who are mostly from families of lower middle and low income earners, Wong stressed.
According to Wong, since its formation in 1969, the TAR University College fees were always the “most affordable”.
Quoting from a TAR pamphlet, he said that for 2019, the total tuition fees payable for an accounting degree is RM35,000 which is 50 per cent cheaper than other private universities in the state.
Wong also told that after SUPP had exposed recently that Unimas also had suffered due to a huge reduction amounting to RM24,805 million in the 2020 budget representing a whopping 58 per cent cut, the state PH leaders hurriedly pointed out that it was related to development expenditure.
They said the operating expenditure of Unimas was actually increased from RM211,578,000 in the 2019 budget to RM216,290,000 in the 2020 budget.
Wong, however, pointed out that the so-called increment in operating expenditure was only RM4.712 million. In other words, Unimas still suffered a net reduction of approximately RM20 million in fund allocation.
“This is simple arithmetic; the state PH is trying to look for excuses to cover up mistakes which were embarrassing them.
“The state PH leaders owe Sarawakians an explanation as to why the net allocation to Unimas was reduced by some RM20 million. The state PH must ensure that Unimas has the same amount of allocation as UniSabah.”
Wong said this when he and the councillors of Sibu Municipal Council (SMC), Sibu Rural District Council (SRDC) and a Sibu Water Board member met the residents of Grand Heights here on Saturday.
During the dialogue, the residents of Grand Heights highlighted blocked drains and damaged roads.
Wong said he would try to solve the problems but if they cannot be solved quickly, he would come back to Grand Heights to explain.
