GEORGE TOWN, Nov 8 ― Putrajaya has increased allocations for developments for all states in the country including PAS-led Kelantan, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said last night.
He said the allocations for all states had increased from a total RM27.9 billion to RM31.7 billion.
“The allocation for Penang increased from RM608 million to RM857 million and even for Kelantan, the allocation increased from RM1.214 billion to RM1.376 billion,” he said.
He refuted allegations by Kelantan PAS leaders that the Pakatan Harapan federal government had sidelined the state since it is an Opposition-led state.
“I am disappointed that the east coast state claimed they were sidelined in the Budget when it is not true,” he told reporters after a dialogue session on Budget 2019 here.
He said the federal government is always receptive to criticisms and will consider all views given but these must be based on facts and figures.
“The Opposition likes to play with sentiments instead of using facts and figures,” he said.
He hoped the people will not believe the lies spread by PAS leaders that Putrajaya has allegedly sidelined Kelantan.
He reiterated that the government had bailed out the state by paying the salaries of its civil servants, and yet PAS leaders there had continued to hurl abuse at the government.
The dialogue session on Budget 2019 is the first such session held by Lim together with his ministry's head of National Budget Office, Johan Mahmood Merican, to explain the budget to the public.
The two-hour event, which is free for the public to attend, was an explainer on the details of the budget with a question and answer session.
Lim said the Budget is normally debated and passed in Parliament but this time, the government wanted to get feedback from the public.
