The people are forced to dig deeper into their pockets in light of the increase in fuel prices due to the 'follies' of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government, claimed an opposition parliamentarian.

Speaking in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, Chong Chieng Jen (DAP-Bandar Kuching) accused the government of committing a 'crime against the people'.

He said the government collected a whopping RM55 billion while the state-owned petroleum behemoth Petronas recorded a pre-tax profit of RM58 billion for last year.

But where has the money gone? he asked, adding that the revenue was not passed on to the people.

"Instead, the government claims that it has insufficient funds for development and has to increase the price of fuel and gas thereby putting additional financial burden on the people," he said.

The shortage of funds, according to him, has nothing to do with the government forking out huge sums to subsidise fuel prices.

"It is the result of decades of corruption, nepotism, cronyism, financial scandals and wasteful spending by the government. Now the people in general are made to suffer for BN's sins," he said.

The scandals

Chong, who is also Sarawak DAP deputy chairperson, cited several 'scandals' both on the federal and state levels.

These include, the Maminco scandal (1986) involving RM1 billion, BMF scandal involving RM2.3 billion, Bank Negara's RM30 billion forex trading loss in 1992, Perwaja Steel scandal involving RM12 billion, purchasing of MAS shares at a price which was RM1 billion more than its market price, Bank Islam's RM700 million loss last year, MAS' RM1.26 billion loss last year and the Metramac scandal involving RM756.7 million.

As for the 'scandals' in Sarawak, he cited 1st Silicon (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd's RM2.5 billion loss in four years, the extravagant RM300 million new state assembly building, the failed joint merger between the Sarawak government and the US-based Mayo Clinic and Borneo Pulp and Paper's RM230 million loss.

"All these are misappropriation and wastage of people's money by the BN government. At the end of the day, the people are made to pay for these follies," said Chong.

"Worst of all, there seems to be no remorse among the BN component parties. All of them support the increase in fuel prices.

"Some even chided the rakyat for not being thankful to the government, even words like 'devil' and 'anti-national' were used by certain BN leaders against the rakyat," he added.

Transparency needed

The biggest fallacy, he said, was the BN government's claim that the RM4.4 billion saved in fuel subsidies would be used for the benefit of the people.

The country does not need savings but rather accountability and transparency, he added.

The MP said there must be transparency in all government contracts given out.

"How much each contract involves, how many sub-contracts or second-hand sub-sub-contractors or third-hand sub-sub-sub-contractors are involved?

"How many of those who get the contracts from the government merely sub-contract it out without doing anything, earning a huge cut in the awarded sum?

"How many of these Ali-Baba companies are getting government projects, who are they and what is the sum involved? Are there any family members of ministers involved. All this information must be open to public scrutiny," he added.

Imbalanced development

Chong also touched on the imbalance in development between Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak.

He said even Works Minister S Samy Vellu, during a recent visit, acknowledged that the state was lagging behind in infrastructure development.

He accused Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of merely paying lip service when he said there would be equal development.

He noted that out of last year's RM35 billion allocation, only RM2.1 billion went to Sarawak.

"We are only getting a mere six percent out of the total development fund for roads and infrastructure development, considering that the surface area of Sarawak is more than 1/3 of the total surface of Malaysia.

"If the federal government has no intention to bring development to Sarawak, then let it be known to all of us. There is no point to hide behind beautiful lies," he said.

Chong also called on the federal government to increase the oil royalties collected by the Sarawak government from five to 15 percent so that the state has more fund for development.

This is 'discrimination'

"While we have poorer roads, we do not enjoy a cheaper road tax. In fact, taxi drivers in Sarawak are paying road tax almost four times more than in West Malaysia.

"What is the rationale? If you don't call this discrimination, what is discrimination?" he asked.

Chong also wanted to know why liquefied petroleum gas sold in Sarawak is more expensive than West Malaysia.

The official price of liquefied petroleum gas in Sarawak is RM1.83 per kg while the official price of liquefied petroleum gas in West Malaysia is only RM1.75 per kg.

"Why the difference and why are we Sarawakians paying more for a product of Sarawak?" he added.