KUCHING, July 16 — Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg last night expressed his fear that the federal government might withdraw development funds to Sarawak because it has been categorised as a high income state.

"What I fear is that because we are a high income state, the World Bank has this formula, that they will withdraw certain incentives. So I hope that people will not withdraw the funds,” he told reporters after chairing the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) supreme council here.

He said the federal government must not withdraw the allocations because Sarawak has a lot to do to raise the income of the rural people. The premier noted that Sarawak has been categorised as a high income state by a credible bank based on the Gross National Index per capita while Malaysia is assessed as a middle high income country.

"Since we have been categorised as a high income state, surely there is a little impact in terms of subsidies from the federal government,” he added.

He said Sarawak is not a party to the World Bank, which is also monitoring the economies of the nations in the world.

"We want to increase the household income of the people. That is the key now and it is our job,” Abang Johari, who is also GPS chairman, said.

"What we are doing now is we are going to have a policy to distribute that wealth to the people through our various projects under the Post-Covid-19 Development Strategy 2030, meaning that our ultimate objective is to upgrade the economic and social status of the rural people by giving them basic infrastructure and talent development to the young people so that Sarawak can push ahead, thereby increasing the household income of the rural people.

"That is our job,” he said.

He said the state government has a lot to do to raise the income of its rural people. He said he has brought up the issue of poverty to the federal Economic Planning Unit that the measurement of wealth must be based on assets, not cash.

"The rating that we have is that we are poor because a lot of people are registered under e-kasih. They do not want to get out of e-kasih because they want to continue to receive cash.

"But a lot of people, who are still registered under e-kasih, can buy utility vehicles,” he said, citing many people in his Gedong constituency who bought vehicles in cash because they have good income from oil palm. He said it was the same with Pakan that has been categorised as a district with many poor people, but many of them are living in modern and concrete longhouses.