Warisan’s ‘Sabah for Sabahans’ slogan may have struck a chord with the average Sabahans, but beautiful and emotional slogan certainly did not help spur Sabah’s economy or solve Sabah’s chronic unemployment problem.
The latest report by the National Statistic Department which showed Sabah’s economic growth at its all time low would certainly mean trouble ahead for Sabahans continue to have less money to spend because of its shrinking economy.
Just 3 years ago, Sabah enjoyed one of its best economic prosperity due to political stability, shrewd management by the then BN government, and capable and experienced leaders.
Today however, even after more than 2 years in power, the state government still does not have a clear direction other than Chief Minister Shafie Apdal’s constant cliché of eradicating poverty as the state’s new ‘Halatuju’.
Under the previous BN leadership, the then Sabah government came up with its ‘Halatuju’ six months after former chief minister Musa Aman was sworn in. As a result, Sabah undergone such rapid development, which culminated in the GDP growth of 8.2%, the highest in the country, in 2017.
Instead of continuing Musa and BN’s good work, Shafie and his ministers spent the last 2 years playing politics, delaying crucial projects such as the Pan Borneo Highway while awarding major projects such as the Papar Dam to the Penang undersea tunnel contractor and road maintenance projects worth RM1.5billion through direct negotiation including to a company connected to Shafie’s right hand man Peter Anthony.
More importantly, Sabahans should consider the fact that despite its close relationship with the PH federal government, Shafie still failed to raise Sabah’s economy.
It is worth noting that the continued drop in Sabah’s economic growth happened during what was considered as the ‘good time’s when Warisan enjoyed good relationship with the PH government.
Now that it is against the federal government led by PN, it is expected that Sabah would continue to suffer and record negative economic growth in the years to come.
This means the people will keep losing jobs and will have less money in their pockets. It would be tougher for Shafie to achieve his ‘eradicate poverty’ cliché then.-
Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam,
Naib Presiden PBS,
Kundasang,
August 9, 2020.
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