KOTA KINABALU – The federal government’s obligations towards Sabah and Sarawak are not limited to maintaining diplomatic ties and security, but also ensuring the two are financially capable, said Sabah Deputy Chief Minister II Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan.
In a statement today, Jeffrey, who is Keningau MP, said several clauses in the federal constitution detail the federal government’s monetary obligations towards Sabah and Sarawak.
In particular, he said, is the federal government’s obligation to pay a special grant amounting to 40% of the net revenue derived by the federation from Sabah.
Putrajaya is currently paying Sabah a total of RM26.7 million.
“This is only one. Other financial arrangements agreed upon and adopted into the amended federal constitution under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) include road grant, capitation grant, and import and export duty.
“If the federal government meets its monetary obligations to Sabah and Sarawak, I am sure the two states will be able to solve half of our financial problems and carry out more development projects,” he said after attending the MA63 socio-economy working committee meeting here today.
Jeffrey, who is also Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Sabah Star) president, said on top of what the Sarawak government has repeatedly stated, the Bornean states are too broad to be considered just another state within the federation.
Both regions overshadow the more developed peninsular in terms of size, he added.
“As such, I have proposed that the committee produce a white paper on the constitutional rights of Sabah and Sarawak before the next committee meeting.
“The committee should focus on solving this main issue, namely reclaiming and restoring our constitutional rights, rather than talking about how many telecommunication towers we should have.”
On the state level, Jeffrey said he will convene a meeting of the state-level MA63 committee to coordinate themselves and list all of their concerns including breaches and how these can be addressed and put them right.
He added that in terms of economy, Sabah and Sarawak are faced with the same problems.
“Our geography poses a challenge and as we are eager to digitise our economy, this proves to be a problem not easily resolved.”
Therefore, he said, Sabah is keen to work with Sarawak as the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah government is looking to establish its own digital economy authority body.
“I have said this before, we are well behind the conventional manufacturing industry. The development of our infrastructure is prohibitively expensive. Our attention should now be drawn to the future and the digital economy is that future.
“This time, I don’t want to see Sabah left behind again and receive only crumbs. We must obtain all our financial rights as agreed upon in the MA63 and as provided for in the federal constitution.” – The Vibes, April 6, 2021
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