Pakatan leaders having 'reliance mentality'?

I am refering to Raja Sherina Cheng's letter in Malaysiakini, Get rid of 'reliance mentality', Pakatan leaders

I think Raja Sherina missed the point on why YAB Lim Guan Eng kept harping on the federal funds due to Penang, and I am most surprised Pak Lah dismissed it with such nonchalance as reported in The Sun, ‘Abdullah: We don't owe Penang any money’.

If I am not mistaken, taxes collected from companies and individuals in every state by federal government, excise duties and import duties collected by Customs, together with Petronas’s contributions (oil royalties, corporation tax, dividends, etc.) are re-allocated to various states by the Finance Ministry. Isn’t it obvious that the PM who is also the Finance Minister is in charge of the carrot and can be (in fact, likely to be) prejudiced against Pakatan governed states? How would Raja Sherina like if she were to contribute towards her family budget but her father decides to discriminate her by not allowing her to stay or have meals in the house? I know this is not a good example as dutiful daughters are expected to contribute without expecting anything in return but the idea that it will create resentment because of the unfairness is the same. In this case, the people of Penang pay taxes but not getting due returns in development funds.

I am pretty sure that if the laws relating to federation of the states were to allow higher level of autonomy, Penang is likely to see a greater inflow of investments and with the CAT (Competency, Accountability and Transparency) principles of governance, Penang can be exemplary in development. As the law stands, even public transport is under federal control and we can see how policies cannot be effectively planned with greater integration and administration. This is similar to having Sherina’s father deciding for her how best to run her life even though she should know best what is good for herself. The principle of ‘subsidiarity’ comes to mind. Subsidiarity is an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority.

So before Sherina accuses Pakatan leaders of having ‘reliance mentality’ she should understand the true situation first. Trengganu’s ‘wang ehsan’ was a good example of how the federal government made things difficult for an opposition state government. There was no shame whatsoever.