S’wak govt should actively pursue its autonomous powers, says former rep

Irene Chang

SIBU (July 15): The Sarawak government should actively and aggressively pursue its autonomous powers under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) especially on health and education, with Sarawak entering its 7th year of crafting an identity for itself.

In stating this, former Bukit Assek assemblywoman Irene Chang said for too long, Sarawakians have suffered from these national policies and lots of people and children in the state have paid the price for the lack of good health services and poor education facilities, especially in the rural areas.

“And with the almost full mandate given to the state government, the state government should showcase their ability to change the status of Sarawak from being one of the poorest states in Malaysia to the richest,” she pointed out in a statement

Chang said this coming July 22 would be the 7th year since Sarawak started celebrating Sarawak Day as a state holiday.

Since then, she said there had been a leap of general awareness among Sarawakians of the role played by Sarawak in the formation of Malaysia.

“This awareness has in turn, raised a spirit of local patriotism and a sense of identity and belonging among our people which in turn, in order to appease the state population, has spurred the state government to move in the direction of looking inward of self-sufficiency and self-reliance.”

On paper, Chang said this was a good economic and social development but in reality, any positive impact from such direction is still yet to be felt among the people who are now struggling against the rapid rising cost of living.

“The degree of unbalanced wealth distribution in the state remains large and in the absence of a sound fiscal policy, the expected economic challenge ahead is only going to widen this gap.”

While to a large extent, Chang added, Sarawak would be affected by the national fiscal policy, a sound state fiscal policy can and should alleviate and cushion the economic blow in the state.

“Now with the yearly payment of the State Sales Tax and the talk of creating a State Sovereign Wealth Fund, the people should expect nothing less than a very sound state fiscal policy to be implemented which can and should reach out to all sections of the community, especially the poor and the marginalised.”

from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3z74VXK
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