KK wants power as ‘growth catalyst city’

11th Malaysia Plan a failure if everything is centralised and controlled from Putrajaya.

KOTA KINABALU: The Opposition in Sabah does not see Kota Kinabalu being mentioned in the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016-2020) as a “Growth Catalyst City” (GCC) as necessarily a good thing without decentralisation of power from Putrajaya to the Sabah capital. “There should be democratisation where people can elect a Mayor who would be people-oriented and the city can be a growth catalyst.”

DAP Sabah Political Education Director Phoong Jin Zhe said that to achieve the GCC target, local governments should have more power especially in fiscal matters. “Greater Kota Kinabalu would have one million people by 2020 and expectations and demands would therefore be higher and challenging.”

He cited the Goods and Services Tax (GST) as an example. “The GST receipts collected from Kota Kinabalu citizens should be shared with City Hall,” said Phoong. “This would help City Hall to develop infrastructure and meet the needs and demands of the local people.”

“We can avoid the prejudices and bias of Putrajaya in this way. Otherwise, local needs would not be met.”
The decentralisation idea, added Phoong , was practised in many cities in the world. He cited cities in the US, China, Australia and Brazil as some good examples. “Regional cities in these countries have autonomy to capitalise on their advantages and compete with other areas in the country.”

The result has been some notable firsts he said. “Shanghai has turned in better performance in education compared with Beijing, the Chinese capital; Curitiba in Brazil has a public transportation system which is far superior to that in Brasilia, the capital, and Rio de Janeiro.”

In the case of Kota Kinabalu, he continued, tourism was a strong point and therefore it cannot have the same development model as Kuala Lumpur or George Town. “Kota Kinabalu has more tourism arrivals and more tourism income compared to other cities in the country.”

“It’s not possible to capitalise on this strength if everything was centralised and controlled from Putrajaya. We cannot compete if we are playing chess with ourselves.” He argued that allowing cities to compete with each other would encourage better performance in terms of city governance and development.

Kota Kinabalu, he stressed, can be developed as a dynamic and vibrant city given its outstanding potential in the tourism sector.

Besides Kota Kinabalu, the 11th Malaysia Plan has also identified Kuching, Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru to be game-changers as growth catalyst cities.