Borneo Blog

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is on a visit to Sabah, the Malaysian state on Borneo island, has announced a series of goodies for the state today.

The following are the goodies’ highlights:

• The Sabah Federal Development Department (JPPS), set up when Sabah was under the then opposition Parti Bersatu Sabah is abolished with immediate effect;

• Following the abolishment of the JPPS, a new agency called the Sabah State Development Office is set up to handle the Prime Minister’s special allocations and monitor implementation and progress of federal government projects;

• A cabinet committee on illegal immigrants is formed, to be chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and will comprise several Sabah leaders;

• A total of RM1 billion allocation from the prime minister’s special allocation to be distributed according to development requirements in Sabah;

• Sabah-born Professor Datuk Kamaruzaman Ampong is appointed the new vice-chancellor of Universiti Malaysia Sabah effective June 18;

• Another Sabah-born Yusuf Saringgit is named the new Sabah Federal Financial Officer effective tomorrow. Mr Saringgit is indeed well-named for the task;

• A Petronas downstream petro-chemical plant to be set up in Sabah;

• A 300MW gas fuelled power plant will also be set up to improve the state’s power supply; and

• An additional RM400,000 allocation for each state constituency. [Source: Bernama, The Star]

So, there’s no more danger of Sabah MPs crossing over to the opposition?

Here’s another perspective from Reuters, which reported that:

“Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, fighting for political survival, made some concessions on Saturday to a politically important state whose leaders could decide whether he stays in office.

“During a visit to the resource-rich but otherwise largely poor eastern state of Sabah on Borneo island, Abdullah pledged to tackle the problem of illegal immigrants, increase funding for rural development and build a power plant to ease interruptions in energy supply.”

Hmm… Sabah, a “politically important state”. I kinda like that phrase.