KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi acknowledged today that more allocations were given to Sarawak in Budget 2016 to win the upcoming state elections.

Zahid was asked to comment on allegations from the opposition on why more allocations were given to Sarawak in the government budget this time around.

“It is indeed. That is a very positive comment from them on it,” he told reporters during a press conference after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak tabled the Budget today at the Dewan Rakyat.

Sabah and Sarawak received many allocations from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government, including the construction of a toll-free Pan Borneo highway and airport upgrades.

Putrajaya also in the budget revealed plans of building a new airport in Mukah, Sarawak, as well as allocating several million for the building of long houses in the east coast.

Zahid, who is Bagan Datoh MP, also condemned the opposition for raising ‘where is RM2.6 billion’ placards after Najib tabled the budget, saying that alternative budget was “unrealistic”.

“Last year they did the same stunt during the budget tabling by raising their orange book but it is clear that they can’t even rationalise between revenue and expenditure.

“They can’t give a good input on the national income and the expenditure that was tabled, maybe because they lack in funds to go prepare a thorough budget model,” he said.

Zahid also said that the opposition was beginning to accept the Goods and Services Tax (GST), pointing out that the broad-based consumption tax still appeared in the shadow budget they presented on Wednesday.

“We read on social media that in their budget they asked GST to be zero rated but at the same time they accepted it as a good tax to replace Sales and Services Tax (SST).

“That means that they accept the reality that it is accepted by the people even though there are complaints,” he said.