The Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) are asking the government to inject RM7 billion more into Budget 2009 as "goodies ….. consistent with pre-election preparations".
Sapp president Yong Teck Lee said yesterday that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak might call for an early general election - to seek a new mandate - as have other prime ministers when they inherited the office.
Early polls will avoid the political costs possibly from a full blown recession and financial crisis that may hit Asia in 2009, he said.
"If early elections are being prepared, then the people can expect more goodies on the way, such as civil servant bonuses, cash grants to organisations, tax incentives and reduction in levies."
In addition, populist decisions like the release of the Hindraf five, clampdown on illegal immigrants, market liberalisation and corruption investigations are likely, said Yong.
"This is why ‘lame duck’ Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has little chance of fulfilling his pledges to reform the judiciary and the police force, to fight corruption and improve the delivery system," he said.
Sapp urges the Sabah government and state leaders in the federal cabinet to persuade Najib to hear the suffering voices of Sabahans.
For instance, to immediately cancel the 500 km Kimanis-Bintulu gas pipeline and instead, build a natural gas-powered plant to fulfill the energy needs of Sabah .
The former BN party wants to know what has come of the RM1 billion announced by the prime minister for Sabah in May.
"As of now, there is no news of any projects attributed to the RM 1 billion."
Yong’s wish list extends to dealing with rapidly falling oil palm and rubber prices, reducing foreign workers’ levies and long overdue infrastructure projects.
Budget validation
The veteran politician feels the Najib budget is markedly different from what Abdullah presented on Aug 29.
The ‘new budget’ apparently contains revised GDP figures, inflation rates and new revenues and new expenditures.
The budget change is a slap in the face for the prime minister, Yong said.
Even if Najib has his own ideas, he still has to comply with parliamentary and legal procedures to get his pre-election budget approved by parliament, he added.
Yong said the odd fact is that this 2009 budget was the first ever to be wound up by a Finance Minister who is not the same finance minister who tabled the original budget.
"This is caused by the mid-stream change of the finance portfolio on September 17 from Abdullah to Najib.
"The amendments to the original budget were only announced during the winding up of the debate on the budget. This seems irregular and unprecedented," he concluded - malaysiakini.com
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