Kamil Munim said the federal government could not be blamed for the sluggish economic progress in the states as substantial assistance had been given in the form of funding and infrastructure development, Bernama reported.
This includes the RM500 special Aidilfitri financial assistance for more than 14,000 civil servants in Terengganu announced by the finance ministry yesterday, he said.
Kamil, Anwar’s political secretary in his capacity as finance minister, also said that Kelantan menteri besar Nassuruddin Daud had met with the prime minister several weeks ago to ask for help in speeding up the flood mitigation project in the state.
He said the allocations provided by the federal government for the four states had also increased.
“So there is no issue of the opposition states being marginalised,” he said when met at the Iftar Perdana and presentation of Madani Aidilfitri contributions at the Arena Square of the Al-Hadhari Mosque in Padang Rengas, yesterday.
Yesterday, Perikatan Nasional (PN) Youth chief Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden rejected claims of a lack of significant economic growth and development in the four states governed by the opposition coalition.
He said that Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, and Perlis had recorded an increase in economic growth every year despite limited support from Putrajaya, which he said made it difficult to woo investors.
Afnan was responding to PKR vice-president Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, who claimed that the four PAS-led states had not seen any significant change in terms of the economy and development.
Nik Nazmi, who is also a federal minister, said this when suggesting that PN should prove it could manage the economy of these four states and develop it, if it wanted to show that it could administer the country and resolve issues such as the cost of living.
Kamil said the SG4 administrations should also take responsibility for addressing key issues such as flooding, adding that these factors directly impact investor confidence.
“Take the flood issue as an example. It’s a major problem affecting all segments of society. If the issue remains unresolved, it will inevitably erode investor confidence in these states,” he said.