Anwar tells Sabah to spend biggest development funding effectively

KOTA KINABALU (Oct 19): Sabah which has been allocated the biggest development funding in Budget 2025, has the responsibility to spend it effectively.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim when officiating the opening ceremony of the Sabah International Blue Economy Conference (SIBEC) 2024 here on Saturday, pointed out that Sabah is a big state and many areas are still underdeveloped.

“Please appreciate that the allocation for Sabah is the highest ever recorded. Is this able to solve all the problems? No, but it is a good attempt, and we will continue to do that. Now, your task is to implement transparently and efficiently.

“I do not want any losses due to delays and corruption. Work as a team because Sabah is also a showcase with its multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic groups. And work with compassion, with respect … it is now your responsibility to make sure it works,” he added.

“And we have to spend huge funds for the Pan Borneo project which is finally ongoing and almost completed in Sarawak,” he said.

Anwar when tabling the federal Budget 2025 on Friday, announced that the development funds for Sabah and Sarawak continue to be given priority.

Both states received the highest allocation, RM6.7 billion and RM5.9 billion, respectively.

Anwar said the federal government is also planning to double the special grant for Sabah and Sarawak to RM600 million in 2025.

Anwar who is also Finance Minister in his speech at SIBEC 2024 on Saturday, also disclosed that his inspiration for the Budget 2025 was partly from the experts and partly from his visit to Lahad Datu recently.

“Where did I get my ideas for the budget? Of course from the experts. But I can’t underestimate the importance, the wisdom of the folks, the rural folks and those in the hinterland.

“Talking to the children and my grandchildren in SK Lahad Datu Felda, I have observed the tenacity, the courage, the patience of the settlers and the poor families to withstand the onslaught of the perpetrators of Lahad Datu that resulted in so much economic hardship and loss of lives.

“And it is interesting for me to note that in the case of police personnel and army personnel in Lahad Datu, they are people from Semenanjung. But in Semenanjung with some of the earliest conditions, we have bold, courageous Sabahans and Sarawakians losing their lives to protect one another. And this I salute to those, not only them but the families, for the support and the resolve to defend Malaysia as a whole,” he stressed.

“Where did I gather the idea? Lahad Datu. That’s why I say it’s a microcosm of the issues affecting the country. Security, quality of education, public health and basic infrastructure,” he stressed.