Sabah folk eager for more projects and developments

Much fixing needed: (From left) Azizul, Dangin and Oh are hoping for a better future for Sabahans, especially in education, infrastructure, economy and human capital progress.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabahans are hoping that the newly minted federal ministers from here will be able to deliver and see the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) fulfilled, say political observers.

Political commentator Oh Ei Sun, 48, said with the two ministerial posts given to Sabah – one in charge of Sabah and Sarawak as the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and the other an Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister – should mean better days ahead.

“In general, we are talking about more development funding, implementation and mechanisms to prevent the funds from being siphoned, now that we have a reformist Federal Government,” he said.

He said Sabah was the poorest state in the country despite its abundant resources, many of which would have to be channelled through federal means.

“It is hoped that more funding could be channelled back to Sabah for acutely needed infrastructural development,” added Oh.

Newly-elected Penampang MP, Kadamaian assemblyman and Upko’s incoming president Datuk Ewon Benedick, 39, was named Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister while Papar MP Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali, 45, of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) will be in charge of Sabah and Sarawak affairs.

Activist and president of the Sabah Youth Entrepreneur Association, Azizul Julirin, said the role of Sabah as equal partners in the federation of Malaysia must be translated accordingly, not just as another of the 13 states in the country.

The 34-year-old hopes for Armizan to take advantage of his position by seeing that Sabah gets its fair share of development funds and equal power sharing with its counterparts in the peninsula.

He said Sabah was still very much left behind in terms of various aspects, including basic infrastructure, education, human capital development and economy.

For Ewon, it is hoped that the minister worked towards ensuring that Sabah has its own quota when it comes to grant and sponsorship opportunities for entrepreneurship programmes, said Azizul.

“He (Ewon) must see that there are committed stakeholders in carrying out and implementing grassroots and field entrepreneurship programmes locally so that the target groups, vision and objectives are achieved,” he added.

Social media personality and former journalist Amy Dangin said while having two ministers in the Federal Government was good, Sabah still needed autonomy over core matters like education and immigration laws.

The 37-year-old mother of four hoped that Armizan and Ewon would take full advantage of the positions they were given.

“Like Ewon, entrepreneurial post means we expect better entrepreneurial opportunities for Sabah, but also as a Penampang MP, we hope he can find ways to combine entrepreneurial opportunities with flood-solving ideas,” she said.

“As for Armizan, I’m guessing it means he will get ample opportunities to inform the PM on the issues in Sabah that need attention or more budget,” added Dangin.

She also feels that being given only two ministerial positions is reflective of how divided Sabah is when it comes to politics, something that needed fixing as soon as possible.