JOHOR BARU: Johor MCA Youth has lauded the democratic approach taken by the state government when providing equal allocations to all its 56 assemblymen.
Its chief Ling Tian Soon said the wing expressed their gratitude to Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad for successfully tabling the state's 2022 budget on Thursday (Nov 18).
"I welcome the state government's move to not differentiate the allocation for each constituency, even those represented by the Opposition," he said in a statement here on Friday (Nov 19).
The state government had agreed that all state assemblymen would receive a fixed allocation of RM200,000 annually.
In addition, a total of RM50,000 was allocated for each state constituency for major celebrations such as Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Chinese New Year, Deepavali and others.
Ling also said he strongly supported the state government's intention to make Johor a food hub for domestic, regional and international markets.
"I strongly agree with this plan because the state has a lot of potential as Johor has vast land and experienced farmers.
"The state also has modern technology and I am confident we can become a speciality food producer from agricultural sources," he said.
He also welcomed the move to expand digitisation in the state.
"Therefore, the government will introduce the Johor Digital Master Plan, which will outline the main digital direction in the state," he added.
He said the 2022 state budget would be guided by two main principles, namely approaching and alleviating the burden of the people affected by the Covid-19 pandemic as well as intensifying initial efforts in rehabilitating economic sectors as a whole.
"The estimated expenditure allocated for development in 2022 is RM870mil.
"At the same time, the 12 key welfare, empowerment and outcome agendas announced in the 2021 budget will also be continued and improved," he said.
During the tabling of the state budget 2022 at Bangunan Sultan Ismail on Thursday (Nov 18), Hasni said he hoped the RM200,000 allocation would help assemblymen provide better services in their constituencies.
"We will also invite Opposition assemblymen as observers to attend their respective district action committee meetings," he told the state assembly on Thursday.
Hasni also said approximately RM1.95bil would be spent on various initiatives and projects.
"Our deficit will be about RM286.47mil as our income is projected to be about RM1.67bil next year," he added.
He said the budget was aimed at reaching out to the people and helping to ease their burden.
"We also hope to intensify our efforts to kickstart the economy state-wide," he added.
