World bank states that Sabah is the poorest State in Malaysia
Certainly not Kelantan as stated by BN government since 1996 when I
visited Kelantan.
I beg to differ even in those days. Now not only UNHDP stated it in
2006, the situation remains the same in 2010, as verified by the World
Bank, another independent world body.
Kit Siang wants royal inquiry on Sabah poverty
Sat, 20 Nove 2010 10:03
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By Queville To
KOTA KINABALU: DAP is calling for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to
investigate how Sabah, which was once a rich state, had crashed to a
point that it was now the "poorest" in Malaysia and is "likely to stay
that way for a considerable length of time".
In making the call, party adviser Lim Kit Siang also asked how the
government had allowed the state to become the poorest in the country
if there was "inclusive growth".
Lim was commenting on a World Bank Report last week which noted that
40% of Malaysia's poor were centred in Sabah, making it the poorest
state in the country.
The embarrassing disclosure has since sent state officials helter-
skelter looking for arguments to counter the report, which has
triggered an uproar against the state government.
Lim said the exhaustive report has exposed the lie that there was
"inclusive growth" in the country.
"Sabah should not have become the poorest state… it was once one of
the richest states before entering into Malaya, together with Sarawak,
to form Malaysia, 47 years ago.
"As emphasised in the official report, 'inclusive growth', means
benefiting every Sabahan and Malaysian and not just a handful of
people. It has been the key objective of the government of Malaysia
since Independence.
"This (report) is an indictment of the government that after 47 years
it has failed to fulfil its promises to the people of Sabah," he told
reporters here yesterday.
Eradication on wrong track
Lim said it was alarming that the World Bank's Human Development
Sector had found that "Sabah is not only the poorest state in
Malaysia, but is likely to stay that way for a considerable length of
time given current efforts on poverty eradication".
"This means that Sabah will not only be the poorest state in Malaysia
but will continue to be the poorest unless there is a total change in
policy," he said, adding that the economic plan in Sabah was neither
balanced nor fair nor equitable nor sustainable for all Sabahans.
Lim said that though the government might have tried for years to
eradicate poverty, it was obviously on the wrong track as the report
showed that Sabahans would continue to struggle to make ends meet,
especially those living in the rural areas.
He said that a Royal Commission of Inquiry should be formed to further
probe on whether the guarantees given to Sabah and Sarawak in 1963
when they agreed to establish Malaysia had been fulfilled.
"Both Sabah and Sarawak could be as developed as Peninsular Malaysia.
That was what they had hoped but it is clear now that the hope has not
been fulfilled."
Lim said that since DAP alone could not force the setting up of such a
commission, it is urging all Sabah BN Members of Parliament to give
their full support to determine why Sabah has remained in the
backwaters.
Also present at the press conference yesterday were Sabah DAP chairman-
cum-Kota Kinabalu MP Hiew King Cheu, Sri Tanjung assemblyman Jimmy
Wong and DAP national publicity assistant secretary Teo Nie Ching.
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