The Malaysian Insight

Barisan Nasional (BN) states will receive federal allocation for development, said Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

“The government has deliberated on it. We said opposition states will get it but not through (political parties’) division chiefs.

“It has to go the state development office. This is our policy,” she told reporters at Selangor think tank Institut Darul Ehsan’s open house in Shah Alam this afternoon.

Dr Wan Azizah said Pakatan Harapan (PH) will not follow BN’s discriminatory and partisan practice.

“Last time when BN was the government, opposition states did not get (federal) allocation, like Selangor and Penang. Allocations went through Umno divisions,” she said.

Rural and Regional Development Minister Rina Harun told the press yesterday that 16,000 villages nationwide will receive up to RM100 million for development.

The funds are available to PH states via the Village Community Development Council, formerly known as the Village Development and Security Committee (JKKK).

Rina said opposition states will receive the funds via another mechanism that should be ready in a month’s time.

Meanwhile, Wan Azizah also said the issue of language should not continued to be politicised.

“Bahasa Malaysia is the official language. There is no issue. (Ministers can) have translations (for their statement). We have it (translation) in movies too,” she said.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has recently came under fire for issuing a public statement in Mandarin only on his Facebook account to defend his trilingual press releases.

During the open house, Wan Azizah saluted Malaysians for ushering a peaceful regime change on May 9 and urged her PH colleagues to work hard to fulfil the coalition’s promises to the people.

“If the people can vote out (BN) after 61 years, we too can be (voted out) if we don’t fulfil our promises,” she said.

Also present was Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari, who promised to uphold free speech and encourage public intellectual debates in the state.

PH won 51 out of 56 state seats and 20 out of 22 parliamentary seats in Selangor in the 14th general election. – June 28, 2018.