They said basic infrastructure and facilities such as banking and health facilities, electric and water supplies, as well as access to Internet and telephones, were critical particularly in the rural areas.
Rozman Isli (Warisan-Labuan) said the gap between Sabah, Sarawak and the Peninsula was huge although the two states own a lot of natural resources such as oil and gas.
He stressed that the lack of basic infrastructures have affected the efforts to attract investment into the states and at the same time impacted the economic growth.
“In the Peninsula, all states are connected with the highway network, and they have several choices for people to move from one place to another. Currently, there are also several mega projects involving hundreds of millions of ringgit.
“However, the Pan Borneo Highway was only initiated recently in Sabah and Sarawak, and there are several small exits dotting the highway (to people’s houses),” he said when debating the motion of thanks for the royal address by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Anyi Ngau (GPS-Baram) said that Sarawak, as the largest state in Malaysia, needed more specific attention and allocation on development, which in turn would help achieve the target of becoming a high-income and developed state by 2030.
“We know it is hard given the current economic situation. But I believe this is an opportunity to provide an allocation for the Sarawak government.
“In my understanding from the Sarawak Planning Unit, we need at least 8% of (economic) growth every year in order to achieve developed status. Therefore, we don’t see any reason as to why the allocation cannot be provided to Sarawak,” he said.
Anyi added that the basic infrastructure such as roads, internet and hospitals in Sabah and Sarawak also needs immediate intervention from the federal government.
Return Labuan to Sabah says MP
Rozman has urged that the federal territory of Labuan be returned to Sabah if the federal government could not bring development to the island.
Rozman said Sabah had the capacity to develop Labuan, which was transferred to federal jurisdiction in 1984.
If the federal government could not live up to its commitment made when it agreed to take over Labuan, Sabah would be able to do so, he said in the Dewan Rakyat today.
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