Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim today denied that the federal government’s development plans only favour certain states, saying allocations are fair and based on need.
He said this after a question from Jalaluddin Alias (PN-Jelebu) on why Johor and Penang received federal support for their new train systems while other states had been sidelined.
Anwar said states like Sabah, Sarawak, Kelantan and Perlis had seen large rises in development spending under the Madani framework.
“This shows that no state is left out in the Madani government. In fact, allocations were increased based on need,” he said during question time at the Dewan Rakyat.
Anwar said Sabah’s development budget went up from RM5.2 billion in 2022 to RM6.7 billion in 2025 while Sarawak’s increased from RM4.7 billion to RM5.9 billion.
Kelantan saw an increase from RM2.4 billion to RM3.2 billion, Terengganu from RM1.4 billion to RM1.8 billion, Kedah from RM1.6 billion to RM2.2 billion, and Perlis from RM400 million to RM600 million.
Anwar also listed several major projects such as the Pan Borneo Highway in Sabah (RM15.9 billion), the Sarawak-Sabah Link Road (almost RM10 billion), and the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) which runs through Pahang, Kelantan, Terengganu and Selangor (RM74.96 billion).
He said flood mitigation works worth RM25.08 billion were also spread nationwide, with RM8.8 billion going to Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu.
Meanwhile, water projects in Kedah and Kelantan received RM1 billion each in loans, including RM922 million for Kedah’s Jeniang water transfer plan.
“We also gave RM723 million for infrastructure in Perlis and RM300 million to upgrade the Timah Tasoh dam,” Anwar said.
In a supplementary question, Jalaluddin asked whether federal development favoured states like Johor and Penang. He later said he was not asking for equality, but wanted attention for states with smaller economies like his state of Negeri Sembilan.
He said Selangor‘s gross domestic product stood at RM432 billion in 2024 while Negeri Sembilan’s was RM54 billion, and Perlis’s, RM6.5 billion.
“Negeri Sembilan is the second developing state in the making… it borders Selangor and should get more focus,” he said.
He also asked why the ECRL route through Jelebu had been cancelled, and said that his proposal for a link between Jelebu and Hulu Langat had not been addressed.
In reply, Anwar said the migration of rural folk to cities was a natural trend but that the government would not allow the development gap to widen.
“There must not be an excessive divide in comfort levels between urban and rural areas,” he said.
He added that the Jelebu-Hulu Langat link was being reviewed as part of the 13th Malaysia Plan and might be listed as a priority.
Regarding Sabah, Ronald Kiandee (PN-Beluran) asked why the Pan Borneo and Link Road projects had seen little progress, while Sarawak’s portions were nearly complete.
Anwar agreed that the difference was stark, but blamed past practices which he said gave contracts to weak local firms under strict state conditions.
“We inherited a mess. Many packages were delayed, cancelled or extended two or three times,” he said.
He said several contracts had also been cancelled and reissued under a more transparent system.
“There’s no reason for the same project, with the same budget, to be 98% complete in Sarawak but nearly fail in Sabah,” he said.
