Time for KL to review 'unfair' policies in Sabah
Published on: Monday, March 31, 2008
Kota Kinabalu: It is high time the Federal Government review some of the current policies that are extremely unfair and are impoverishing Sabah, said former Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Tham Nyip Shen.This includes the present requirement for Sabah to export its commodities such as cocoa and palm oil through ports in Peninsular Malaysia, besides paying a higher price for consumer goods.Speaking to reporters here Sunday, Tham, who is also State Science Advisor Datuk Tham Nyip Shen highlighted that due to the an unfair policy, the State is currently estimated to lose about RM300 million of revenues from palm oil export (of an estimated six million tones) alone per annum, based on the current market price of between RM40 - RM50 per tonne.
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"With such an unfair policy, how can we not be poor?" he asked.He pointed out that the lost revenues were actually sufficient to increase the development fund for each MP in the State to RM3 million for them to help improve their constituencies. And while welcoming the recent statement made by the recent Domestic Trade and Consumers Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Ahmad, Tham who is also Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) 'think-tank' chief reiterated his previous call to implement a 'uniform pricing policy' for goods across the nation, in order to be fair to the people of Sabah and Sarawak.Sharir had said that consumers in the country can expect major changes in the demand and supply mechanism, including doing away with controlling the prices of essential goods.
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"When Datuk Shahrir assumed the post of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister, he made a few interesting announcements and this certainly gives fresh hope to Malaysians, Sabahans included. This, I say syabas! (well done!) to Datuk Shahrir."But, I am particularly keen to pursue an old topic - uniform national pricing policy across the nation. It is never the fault of Sabahans and Sarawakians that we are being separated by the largest sea in the world - the South China Sea. Unfortunately, we are severely punished as a result i.e. paying a higher price for consumer goods (between 20 per cent - 50 per cent )," he said.
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He said the case of America which is about 28 times larger than the size of Malaysia, to further illustrate his point. [USA: Area (Land): 9,161,923 SQ KM. Malaysia: Area (Land): 328,550 SQ KM] "To put it in perspective, traveling from east to west of United States of America requires 5 hours compares to just 2Þ hours in Malaysia. Yet, there is no price difference in most items between New York and Los Angeles when they are 2,462 miles apart compare to that of only 1000 miles between Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur. "I can quote a few other countries having no price difference. In Malaysia, even national newspapers are more expensive in Sabah, compare to Kuala Lumpur!" he said.Tham asserted that the renewal of such call for a 'uniform pricing policy' is timely, especially when the people of Sabah and Sarawak had given so much support to the BN Government. "Sabah is still being recognised as the poorest state in Malaysia, we are not asking for special privilege, what we want is not much, we just want a fair price, the same price that a Malaysian should pay! We hope to live like a Malaysian.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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