KOTA KINABALU – The move by the governments of Sabah and Sarawak to turn down Putrajaya’s offer of a threefold increase in the special grants for the states has been greeted with outrage and disbelief by Warisan MPs.
Warisan Youth chief and Sepanggar MP Datuk Azis Jamman said it was not a smart move on the part of the Sabah government as the funding constitutes a state entitlement.
“When the Sabah government rejected this, we were surprised. The higher special grants should have been defended,” he said.
“Even if it is still under revision, maintain the payment and make the adjustment after finding a consensus. You don’t do the opposite.
Come on. How stupid can someone who is running the state be to ask for the special grants to be reduced?
“This does not make sense,” he said when met by reporters in Sepanggar yesterday.
When Warisan ruled over Sabah from May 2018 to September 2020, the state administration had fought with Putrajaya, then under Pakatan Harapan (PH), to increase the special fund for the state from RM26.7 million.
The PH government then doubled the payment to RM54 million, with a further increase in three years’ time.
Azis said it is now up to Warisan’s successor, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah, as the current state government to explain why it has opted to revert to the lower payment.
The controversy erupted when federal Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz revealed in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday that the current Sabah and Sarawak governments had rejected the increase.
He said the rejections were due to funds for both states currently being under revision.
“The matter is still being discussed to achieve a consensus. Our (Putrajaya’s) commitment is to achieve a consensus on the amount over the next five years,” Tengku Zafrul said when answering questions from MPs during his winding-up speech following the debate on Budget 2022.
The special grants come under the terms of revenue sharing – under Article 112D of the federal constitution – where Sabah is supposed to get 40% of the federal revenue collected from the state, while Sarawak opted for a fixed amount of RM16 million a year.
Notably, the increments in the special grants during the PH era were also not in accordance with constitutional provisions.
Pakatan Harapan has failed Sabahans and Sarawakians
Azis also said that the rights of the people of Sabah and Sarawak had been compromised following the passing of Budget 2022 at a policy level on Thursday.
He said the Supply Bill 2022 had been passed due to a lack of opposition from PH MPs, who fell in line with the opposition coalition’s memorandum of understanding (MoU) for “transformation and political stability”.
Meanwhile, Warisan deputy president and Penampang MP Datuk Darell Leiking said the MoU has effectively put PH on a leash.
“Several opposition MPs have informed me that they were forced to heed orders from top leaders to not oppose the budget, due to the MoU the opposition had signed with the government,” he said.
He said these MPs have been frustrated by their superiors in PH who ordered them not to join Warisan MPs in opposing the budget.
“We tried to understand the emotions and frustrations of those who had criticised the budget, but were forced to vote ‘yes’ for it due to the pact,” he said.
Leiking said Budget 2022 is filled with inequality, especially for the people of Sabah and Sarawak.
“We shall not give up or be muted, nor shall we be curtailed by any form of intimidation, or MoU, or whatever you call it," he said.
He lamented that corruption has almost become a norm, with many being let off over abuses of powers, while ordinary citizens face unequal allocations and bias.
Leiking said the imposition of religious beliefs over others has also given the country a bleak future, more so for Sabah and Sarawak due to the treatment they have received for 58 years now. – The Vibes, November 21, 2021
