By George Wong
KUCHING, July 7, 2024 - Premier Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg took exception to critics who compared Sarawak to the tiny Perlis state in the calculation of the poverty rate between the two states.
Picture: Sarawak premier says not fair to compare Sarawak with Perlis in the calculation of poverty rate.
He said it is not fair to compare the two as Sarawak is a big region and as big as Malaya while Perlis is the size of half of Kuching district.
"Although some compare Sarawak with Perlis, Perlis is a very small state. From the point of view of calculating the poverty rate, it should be different,” he said after chairing PBB supreme council meeting yesterday.
He said being tiny, it is safe to assume that the poverty rate in Perlis will definitely be small or even none at all.
He said the state government is making efforts to address poverty in Sarawak, adding that there are signs to indicate that the rate is declining.
Abang Johari said the state government is now conducting a survey to find out the actual poverty in the state, hoping that the outcome of the survey will be announced when he tables the state Budget 2025 in the November 2024 sitting of the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (SLA).
The premier sad Sarawak remains a high-income state for the second year running as announced by the World Bank.
"We have passed the income line based on Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, which means we have succeeded in strengthening Sarawak's position as a region with a high income," he said.
According to Abang Johari, the next step is that the Sarawak government will continue to work to increase household income.
“We want to increase the income of the people of Sarawak in urban and rural areas, including sectors where they can work to increase their income," he explained.
He also stated that the Sarawak government has used the income earned over the past four years to supply important and strategic infrastructure such as water supply, electricity, internet, and road infrastructure which is currently being implemented.
"For roads and bridges, the government has allocated as much as RM20 billion and the implementation is underway.
Apart from that, it also includes electricity and water supply that must be connected throughout Sarawak," he said.
Abang Johari also stated that Sarawak will have a State Water Grid which is expected to be completed in 2030.
"The State Water Grid will be equipped with a piping system which requires an expenditure of RM1 billion, and this will be financed by the Sarawak government because the federal government only allocated about RM30 million which I think is insufficient.
“So Sarawak will implement its own water supply," he explained.
