Think-tank: Why reluctant to celebrate Malaysia Day in KL?

By Wartawan Nabalu News
17 Sept 2021
KOTA KINABALU: Local think-tank Wisdom Foundation queries why the federal government is reluctant to celebrate Malaysia Day in the peninsular as it was only seen to have been celebrated in Sabah and Sarawak only.
While it is a public holiday for the whole nation, its executive chairman Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau said the venue of the celebration was never held in the peninsular.
The Member of Parliament for Tuaran added that he has raised this matter in the parliamentary sitting where he had urged the federal government to hold the celebrations in the national capital instead.
He was speaking during a virtual webinar titling the Constitutional Safeguards for Sabah and Sarawak’s Autonomy, yesterday.
It was jointly organised by the Bar Council and the Faculty of Law, Universiti Malaysia (UM).
According to Madius, with the event held in the national capital, it would help Malaysians understand the formation of the country as many Malaysians are seen to have been clueless about the historical commemoration.
Meanwhile, law expert Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi claimed that the financial power that the federal government holds is overwhelming when it earns 90 cents of every 10 cents grossed by the state government.
While several states like Sabah and Sarawak do have privileges that the peninsula doesn’t, he said it is still injustice to have inequitable sharing of resources and as well a lack of fiscal federalism.
He also mentioned that Sabah and Sarawak have allegedly not received the financial allocations under the Malaysian Agreement 1963 (MA63) Provisions.
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