Batang Sadong MP Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri speaks during IDEAS forum ‘The Next Four Years: What Now for Malaysia?’ in Kuala Lumpur June 28, 2019. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — The government should not penalise Sarawak by cutting its allocated budget, Sarawak lawmaker Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said today.

“Why are you cutting the budget that is already allocated for us? Don’t say there’s no money. You have money that is there allocated through us.

“I’m not talking about mega projects, I’m talking about infrastructure projects that cost around RM20,000 to RM30,000 that have also been cancelled,” Nancy said during a forum organised by the Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) on where Malaysia will be in four years.

The Batang Sadong MP said that the decrease in the number of federal funded projects, including infrastructural development, in Borneo after Pakatan Harapan won last year’s general election had not made the coalition popular there.

She added that in order to win the hearts and minds of the Sarawakians, Putrajaya must be fair to the state, particularly on economic policies.

The federal Opposition lawmaker said that bread and butter issues remain the main concern in the hornbill state as Sarawakians just want to put food on the table and do not care for the politicking they see taking place in the peninsula.

She also claimed that that Malaysians in the country’s largest state want Datuk Seri Najib Razak back as prime minister, and that he knew what Sarawak needed when he was in power, and provided it.

“If you talk to a normal Sarawakian, they want Najib back because he went to all the rural areas. I’m not trying to promote him, but he knew what Sarawak needed. He went to Sarawak more than 60 times and he tried to make things easier for us.

“Now, we only have one full minister from Sarawak and one deputy minister from Sarawak. Those are the only representatives we have from Sarawak,” the Batang Sadong MP from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu said.