Petra Jaya MP Fadillah Yusof said Ngeh’s comments showed that DAP leaders were “clueless” and out of touch about the needs and sentiments of Sarawakians.

“Perhaps Ngeh has forgotten that we in the opposition carry the voices of the people. When we speak out, we have a good reason for doing so,” he told FMT.

“In this case, it is not that we are ungrateful as he claims. It is that promises have been made by Pakatan Harapan (PH) to the people of Sarawak and Sabah, and these promises have not been fulfilled.”

He listed the most important of these as PH’s manifesto pledge to pay the two states 20% oil and gas royalties instead of the current 5%.

He also spoke of the pledge to return 50% of tax revenue collected from Sarawak.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng later said the government was unable to increase the royalties as the country was saddled with debt.

Fadillah said the people felt cheated by the election pledges made by Lim and Sarawak DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen.

“To make matters worse, we read reports that the government is borrowing billions at an alarming rate, yet they always use debt as an excuse to deny us our rights.”

He also noted that the federal government had been able to give Penang some RM100 million for a cable car project while cancelling key infrastructure projects in Sarawak that had already been approved.

He said three bridges in Batang Lupar, Igan and Rambungan had been scrapped while water supply and flood mitigation projects were also cancelled.

“First they don’t honour their promises, then they cancel already approved projects and yet, they have the nerve to say we are ungrateful?

“I think Ngeh needs to come here and see for himself the needs of the people. Then let’s see if he dares tell the people they are ungrateful.”

Putrajaya had announced that Sabah and Sarawak would receive RM5.2 billion and RM4.4 billion respectively in development expenditure next year – about 17% of the total development expenditure of RM56 billion.