KOTA KINABALU – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim views justice as based on necessity, especially when it involves allocation of funds for states.
For this reason, he said a larger allocation for Sabah means the state has an urgent need for additional funding.
“By also being the finance minister, (I believe) fairness should be based on necessity. There are other states that also face issues. But if we (the government) spend big in Sabah, it is because it is a necessity,” he said during the Meet Anwar session held at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, here, this evening.
“Other states have potholes too, but not as severe as the roads in Sabah. At times while on the road, I don’t know whether we are riding inside a car or a boat.”
He said for instance, he had earlier promised to put an end to poverty this year and that the highest number of the country’s poor are found in Sabah.
Anwar said the larger allocation of funds for Sabah is also linked to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“This means the largest allocation (to deal with poverty) will go to Sabah,” he said.
“If I am criticised by the opposition, I will tell them not to be too ignorant and shallow that you don’t even understand what Malaysia is, and what the MA63 stands for,” he said.
Meanwhile, Anwar said he has invited Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob and Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor for a meeting to resolve the water and road issues in both states.
The prime minister said these were among the important matters that needed to be resolved regardless of politics between the opposition-led states and the federal government.
“There are plans carried out by the states, but because the projects are immense and due to the problem of scale, I have invited the leaders from both states for a meeting to find solutions to these problems tomorrow morning,” he said. – The Vibes, May 31, 2023
