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KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan Sabah does not commit to the 2021 Budget until they have studied it in detail, says President Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.
He said there was no reason not to support the budget if it was appropriate and took into consideration the welfare of the people and the interest of the nation in accordance with the decree of Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
In addition to financing for development projects, a special allocation should be made to revitalize the economy and ensure the health and safety of people, he said in an interview with Astro Awani.
Mohd Shafie said he would also support any measure to cut the salaries of MPs and ministers if it could help “reduce the burden.”
“We need to thoroughly analyze if the needs of certain places are adequate with the assistance that is going to be implemented, it is micromanagement, but it is a serious matter.
“In Sabah, for example, the health and medical system is still far behind; Not only is it insufficient in the number of doctors, but the hospital facilities are not enough.
“I spoke with frontline doctors on the east coast of Sabah a few days ago, where community salons on the islands are being turned into quarantine centers.
“There is not enough space to accommodate if we want to transport these patients on the islands to the mainland hospitals, so if we can build such a facility close to them, it will ease their burden.
“That’s the kind of budget that’s ‘prihatin’ (careful) for people,” he said.
Mohd Shafie also said that not allowing the state of emergency was a wise decision, as it would have paralyzed the economy.
“We need to see what measures can be taken, not only to curb the virus but also to overcome economic problems, because even if we can combat Covid-19, the economic impact is expected to last longer.
“That is why we must analyze what kind of cooperative framework that involves everyone that we can devise to ensure that our country’s economy can be strengthened in the midst of Covid-19,” he said.
Mohd Shafie added that it was important to delineate and detail the kind of cooperation that could involve all political entities.
“We need to know the content of the national budget, for example, for the mitigation of Covid-19. What types of allocation, what is the medical side (of funds), what kind of assistance for people.
“Second, how can we overcome national economic problems, where many companies have collapsed and three-quarters of our (national) income annually comes from taxes,” he said.
Mohd Shafie said the government should not only trust the opinions of politicians, but also those of business councils and chambers.
On the question of whether dissolving the Sabah state assembly was the best decision in hindsight, seeing how Covid-19 had soared in Sabah, Mohd Shafie said that the elections were held in other countries around the world.
“The legal framework has existed for years, we have to follow the legal steps. We cannot say that it is prudent or not, ”he said.
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