Sabah Chief Minister pledges expanded scholarships and infrastructure to break poverty cycle

At the GRS Convention in KUDAT, Chief Minister Hajiji Noor linked his personal experience of poverty, loss, and manual work to a policy agenda aimed at preventing similar fates for Sabah's children. He announced that the Sabah State Government Scholarship allocation will jump to RM155 million in 2026, up from RM55 million in 2021, to support underprivileged students. So far, 480,000 students have benefited from 14 programmes under the Sabah Maju Jaya framework, including cash aid, computer assistance and flight subsidies.

Noor said the state’s annual revenue now reaches RM7 billion, enabling large-scale infrastructure work through the 13th Malaysia Plan, with 173 road projects and 77 water-treatment initiatives. He highlighted the 2021 Commercial Collaboration Agreement with PETRONAS, which raised local vendor contracts to 499 in 2025. Additional welfare measures include building 11,000 homes under the Rumah Mesra SMJ scheme, targeting 50 homes per constituency this year.