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PSB chief curious about funds going into DBOS - Borneo Post Online

KUCHING: Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) president Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh is questioning about the amount of fund from the state’s reserves that has been transferred to the Development Bank of Sarawak (DBOS) following its setting-up.

He believes that the state reserves being placed into DBOS and spent on projects are the same as spending the reserves themselves.

“It then becomes an alternative funding in name, but not in form.

“We would also like the Second Minister of Finance (Deputy Chief Minister) Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah to enlighten us whether or not the money transferred into DBOS from the Reserve Fund could still be considered a part of the State Reserve Fund, as what has been explained prior,” said Wong, who is Bawang Assan assemblyman, in a statement yesterday.

Formerly a Second Finance Minister in the Sarawak Cabinet, Wong said alternative funding could normally be arranged by the State Financial Secretary’s Office, or via DBOS.

To him, one could argue that it was not alternative funding when the party (DBOS) raising funds served as ‘an arm of the Sarawak government’.

“For DBOS to raise funds, it’s no different from the state government raising funds. DBOS has little track record and it can only rely on the credit rating of Sarawak government to raise funds either through issuance of bonds or through syndicated loan arrangements with other banks.

“We must not delude ourselves thinking that DBOS is a separate entity from the Sarawak government – it is one and the same.

“Any fund expanded by DBOS is money from the Sarawak government, and there may be some from government subsidiary bodies or GLCs (government-linked companies).

“Therefore if DBOS, say, spent RM6 billion on a project, it would be money coming from the state government’s coffers. Any loan or any bond issuance by DBOS shall become a liability of the state government as DBOS is wholly-owned by the state government,” he said.

Elaborating, Wong said this would mean that the Sarawak government would be held completely responsible for any loan or bond issued by DBOS, and the Sarawak government would also be held responsible should DBOS fail to pay.

“Similarly, one may argue that if any part of the State Reserve Fund is transferred to DBOS to fund projects, the State Reserves would accordingly be reduced by the amount expanded by DBOS, because DBOS is part of the state government and not a private bank.

“Say RM6 billion from our reserves is placed on deposit with Maybank, this RM6 billion could be taken back at any time upon demand.

“But the RM6 billion in Reserve Fund placed with DBOS, which have been used to fund projects, could not be returned immediately upon demand,” he said.

Uggah, in his ministerial winding-up speech in the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting on Friday, said the government would continue to leverage on State Alternative Funding Initiatives to complement the state’s development budget.

“This is necessary to funParti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) president Dato Sri Wong Soon Kohd major infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges; provision of water and electricity supplies; telecommunications and digital economy projects,” he was quoted as having said in the Assembly.

Mycomments:

It is good that  Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) president Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh can see the GPS coalition in different light and the problems of their management of the Reserve Fund.  If he were still in the same coalition, would he see it in that way?  

I hope that it is time for Sarawakians to assess all these political scoundrels.   We should be prepared to pull down the GPS political scoundrels one by one and bury all the Malayan parties for good.  This is the only way to put an end of the long years of colonialism and imperialism.   

PSB is widely believed to work for the arch-devil, Mahathir, who is the arch-enemy to Sarawakians in general.