DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng urged the Government to increase Budget 2022 allocation by RM2 bil specifically to help East Malaysians and non-Bumiputeras.
“A RM2 bil increase in Budget 2022 allocations for East Malaysians, Bumiputeras and non-bumis will help to unite Malaysia and prove that the Malaysian Concept is not an empty slogan.
“And the allocations amount to only 0.1% of the budget deficit,” he said, in a statement.
Many quarters have decried Budget 2022 saying it was heavily skewed towards Bumiputera, sidelining the minority.
According to estimates, Budget 2022’s allocation for the Bumiputera community comes up to RM11.4 bil, while the amount for the non-Malays is about RM300 mil or a 2.6% equivalent. This works out to about RM577 per Bumiputera, RM75 per Indian and RM15 per Chinese.
The glaring disparity did not escape the public’s eye, with former Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim cheekily saying on Twitter: “Nice to be Bumiputeras… billions set aside. “(This) must be the only country in the world where (the) Budget is race-specific.”
Sabah short changed
Touching on the matter, Lim said that percentage wise, the allocation made to East Malaysia under Budget 2022 was lower compared to Pakatan Harapan’s Budget 2020.
The former finance minister added that while development expenditure in Budget 2022 was increased to RM75.6 bil as compared to RM56 bil in Budget 2020, Sabah still received the same amount of RM5.2 bil development expenditure as allocated under both budgets.
“In other words, Sabah was worse off in receiving 6.9% of development expenditure under Budget 2022 as compared to 9.3% under Budget 2020.
“If Sabah were to be given the same 9.3% of development expenditure as provided under Budget 2020, the state should be receiving RM7 bil, not RM5.2 billion under Budget 2022,” Lim stated. — Nov 25, 2021
