LAMAN RASMI ADUN MAHARANI

THE state government yesterday received a rare congratulatory note from an opposition member for the tabling of a surplus budget for next year. 

Dr Mohammad Taslim (Pas-Maharani), who was debating a motion of thanks on the ruler's address, opened his speech by praising the budget, and called for the state government to maintain it in the black.

He also urged the state government to ensure that allocations for development be derived from "halal" sources instead of revenue collected from "immoral activities" such as gambling and the sale of liquor.

Dr Mohammad said the benefits of development would be negated if they were financed by economic activities which were against the teachings of Islam.

Menteri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman had on Nov 11 tabled a surplus budget for 2011, with revenue estimated at RM814.12 million, against a management expenditure of RM811.35 million.

This was in contrast to the 1.1 per cent deficit budget this year, which was largely caused by the worldwide economic downturn.

Dr Mohammad also noted that it was praiseworthy for Ghani to stress that the budget needed to be implemented with the full commitment of government officials to ensure the people fully benefit from it.

But he called on the state government to improve transparency by fully implementing an open tender system for its projects, better collection of taxes and credit payments including those among government agencies and ensuring proper studies be carried out before the implementation of projects to avoid wastage.

He also requested for better rapport between the state government and opposition assemblymen.


Read more: Pas rep praises budget http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/20semj2/Article#ixzz15qHPHUmi