KOTA KINABALU – When fighting for the special grant for Sabah, there is no need for the state to go through the long process of taking the bill from the cabinet to the state assembly followed by Parliament, said Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal (Senallang-Warisan).
In his debate speech at the state assembly sitting here today, he said that the grant – 40% of federal revenue from Sabah that is supposed to be returned to the state government – is stipulated in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), which is a basis of the country’s formation.
“It is stated in MA63 and also in the federal constitution. The federal government denying us this is a breach of contract, and this can be questioned at the international level.
“What I see now is that we wait and see if the bill (on special grant) is taken from the cabinet to the state assembly and then to Parliament. This actually does not need to happen,” he said.
Shafie said that when he was Sabah chief minister from 2018 to 2020, he managed to demand the federal government to increase the state’s allocation from RM26 million to RM52 million through the MA63 Special Committee chaired by the then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“How is it that at the time, we managed to demand that the federal government change the allocation from RM26 million, the amount that had been given since 1974, with an increase to RM52 million in 2020 without the need to go through the Dewan Rakyat?”
As such, Shafie said, the Sabah government can do two things, the first being to have all the people’s representatives of Sabah regardless of their political stance united in demanding the matter from Putrajaya.
“Another option is that we can take it to court. This is constitutional. It means that there has been a breach in the contract. We must enforce this and must be serious. If we don’t show seriousness, they will take us for granted, and think that…the Sabah government is okay with us.
“No! There is a red line in fighting for Sabah’s rights. We must defend this.
“As the opposition leader in Sabah, I have no problem in giving my full support for this demand. I hope that this matter will have a solution,” he said.
Later, Shafie also brought up the issue of poor basic infrastructure facilities in the state.
“The road conditions in Sabah are the worst in the country,” he said, criticising state public works minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, who is a deputy chief minister, for saying that there will be no repairs to the damaged Sandakan-Kota Kinabalu road due to the construction of the Pan Borneo Highway project.
“We need to wait two years until the Pan Borneo Highway project is completed? Wait for another three years? How many cars would have been damaged by then?
“We have to evaluate the economic return with a better road. When I was in the government I added the allocation for road maintenance by RM100 million, because I realised that we cannot rely on the federal government to maintain the roads,” he said.
Shafie stressed on the importance of the road as an artery to convey vegetables, fish, and other products between Telupid, Lahad Datu, and Kota Kinabalu.
“We are not asking for an MRT or LRT; we are just asking for an allocation to fix the roads,” he said. – The Vibes, March 21, 2022
