KOTA KINABALU, May 4 — A proposal for the Sabah State government to establish its own airline will be tabled during the State Assembly session which is scheduled to be held from May 23.
Kuamut assemblyman Datuk Masiung Banah who is going to make the proposal, said the state government should emulate the Sarawak government’s move to establish its own airline as this can be a new revenue earner for the state.
He opined that the proposal should be a priority in Sabah’s development agenda because it promises potential investment.
“The time has come for us to explore our own aero aviation industry as a long-term investment of the state government. Sabah’s aero aviation needs to be created for the benefit of the people in the state as well as to contribute to domestic development,” Masiung said in a statement yesterday.
The Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat) Vice President felt that the rakyat in Sabah and Sarawak are always bullied by the existing national airlines when the festive season arrives.
He alleged that during the festive season airlines would take the opportunity to reap multiple profits by raising prices of airfare from Kuala Lumpur to Sabah by up to 500 per cent.
“Sabahans and Sarawakians residing in Peninsular Malaysia are mostly students while those employed do not earn very high salary. They must save up in order to be able to purchase air tickets home for the festive season,” he lamented.
“Why should Sabahans and Sarawakians be made to suffer like this? It is sadder when we know that the Federal Government spent RM93 million in toll subsidies for the people in the peninsula for four days during this year’s Aidilfitri festival,” he said.
Masiung opined that the people of Sabah and Sarawak are always overlooked in the distribution of subsidies even though these two regions are the biggest contributors to the national economy.
He also urged the Malaysia Madani government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, to see to it that the people of the Peninsula and the Borneo Region receive equal subsidies.
According to Masiung, the people of Sabah and Sarawak should not be exempted from enjoying subsidies which the government could have introduced to help reduce the price of air tickets to the two Borneon states.
He is confident that the Sabah government is able to implement the new proposal as it would help the people of Sabah, government officials and state leaders travel to and from Peninsular Malaysia at a reasonable airfare. — Borneo Post
