KL aware of Sabah's need for more funding

Published on: Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Kota Kinabalu: The Federal Government is seriously looking into Sabah's need for more allocation for agriculture development and will strive to help fulfilling such needs, said Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Wira Mohd Johari Baharum."What's important is that Barisan Nasional (BN) must win in Sabah (during the forthcoming General Election). If BN wins in Sabah, surely there would be no problem," he said."Like in Kedah, my place, we lost. So if we lose, it would be difficult, because we will have a problem with the (opposition) State Government. So we hope BN would continue to rule in Sabah, so we can continue to assist the StateÉwe can help many things in the State," he told reporters after he officiated at the launching of Sabah zone-level Kor Tani by his Ministry at Kota Kinabalu Sports Complex in Likas here Monday.He said the Federal Government is well aware of the problem (Sabah's need for more Federal Government allocation) as most of the Members of Parliament from Sabah have raised it in their debates in Parliament.Citing an example, Mohd Johari pointed to the government assistance in repairing the houses of fishermen which is now being implemented in stages.Apart from that he said the Government is also now building homes for the fishermen at a cost of RM50,000 per unit. But to do this the Federal Government requires the cooperation of the State Government to provide land for the purpose.The same goes for other agriculture development, he said, adding it is for this reason that the people of Sabah must continue to give their support to the present BN State Government and its leaders.Mohd Johari also blamed the opposition's attempt to interfere in the government effort to develop Kota Belud's rice bowl by campaigning against the construction of a proposed dam that is meant to provide for the irrigation for the paddy cultivation area in the district."So that's why I said if Sabah is to be ruled by the opposition, it would make it hard for us to continue developing the State Éwe hope the people in Sabah would reject the opposition and give their full support to the existing BN State Government under the Umno leadership," he said.Some 515 people in Sabah and Labuan participated as members of Kor Tani, which aims to register 10,000 members throughout the country this year.So far nearly 6,000 people aged between 18 and 40 have joined this movement, which was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak at national-level on April 22 this year.They comprise the Pasar Tani participants, small and medium industry entrepreneurs, graduates involved in production/marketing, farmers, breeders and so on.Mohd Johari said the Ministry is now looking at probably providing an opportunity to those unemployed Kor Tani members to develop lands under the Ministry's jurisdiction that are still idle for food production.In another development, Mohd Johari said the peninsula is presently importing bananas from Sabah and Sarawak due to the banana plague that has badly affected banana cultivation there.

 Daily Express