ADUN SPEAKS | It's time for a new deal for states

ADUN SPEAKS | Now is the time. From Sabah, Sarawak, Penang, and now Johor, states are dissatisfied with the concentration of power and resources in the hands of the federal government and the resultant lack of economic and infrastructural development.

In the royal address to the Johor state assembly yesterday, Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar detailed a litany of failed promises and outright failures by the federal government, such as pothole-ridden federal roads, poor amenities at the state’s public hospitals, and the sorry state of the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine complex.

The sultan thundered that the state of Johor shouldn’t be “dianaktirikan” or treated as a stepchild.

The sultan’s views have to be taken seriously by...