CIVIL society organisation Rise of Sarawakians Effort (ROSE) has joined growing calls for transparency and accountability over the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly’s approval of an additional RM100 million in travel expenses for the Office of the Premier, Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg.
The allocation, passed without debate during a sitting earlier this week, has raised concern among advocacy groups and opposition leaders, who argue that such significant public expenditure must be subject to scrutiny.
“The rakyat has a right to know how state leaders use taxpayers’ money for their travels,” ROSE said in a public statement.
“While we welcome the effort by state leaders to attract foreign investments, there must also be transparency and accountability over how state leaders spend taxpayers’ money.
“Civil societies including ROSE have a legitimate right to ask for such transparency and accountability from those in the government.
“Asking for transparency and accountability is not a form of political attack,” it added.
The group also criticised the Sarawak State Assembly Speaker’s rejection of motions seeking clarity on the matter, saying it was troubling and contrary to the principles of good governance.
“Transparency and accountability must be part and parcel of good governance,” ROSE said.
The RM100 million allocation, meant for upcoming overseas trips by the Premier’s Office, is reportedly more than 2.5 times the combined travel expenditure of all federal cabinet ministers and deputy ministers for the whole of last year.
Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen described the move as a shocking example of extravagant public spending and said the figure far exceeded the RM44 million total travel expenses incurred by the federal cabinet in 2024.
“In terms of foreign investments attracted, the federal ministers secured RM378.5 billion worth of foreign investments last year for the whole country,” Chong said.
“The federal cabinet ministers revealed full details of their travel expenses and the investments they secured in written replies in Parliament.
“Sarawak secured RM14.12 billion investments last year.
“For the Sarawak state leaders now to blatantly approve an additional RM100 million for the Premier’s Office overseas trip without justification and without revealing details is blatant wastage of taxpayers’ money,” he added.
Chong, who is also the state assemblyman for Padungan, accused the ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) of using its parliamentary dominance to silence dissent.
“The sheer dominance of GPS in the state makes it arrogant enough to refuse to justify their extravagant spending and to sweep everything under the carpet,” he said.
He noted that the RM100 million approved is only for the Premier’s Office and does not yet include the travel expenses of the state’s 10 ministers and 26 deputy ministers.
“The manner in which extravagant wastage of public money is being swept under the carpet by the GPS ruling government in Sarawak should be a cause of concern for the rakyat and a wake-up call to all Sarawakians,” Chong said. - May 30, 2029
