KOTA KINABALU – There is no excuse for Putrajaya to not uphold the federal constitution and honour the 40% revenue sharing formula with Sabah, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan.
“The Keluarga Malaysia federal government should be fair in returning Sabah’s 40% nett revenue. It should also adopt a similar stand and return a fair and equitable amount to Sarawak under the same constitutional provisions.
“Every federal cabinet member and lawmaker have sworn to uphold the federal constitution, so there is no issue or excuse for the federal government to not return Sabah’s revenue,” he said in a statement today.
He also suggested that Sabah, Sarawak and the federal government must agree to a revenue collection mechanism that allows for immediate disbursement.
Jeffrey also chairs the Sabah cabinet committee on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and state rights.
He said there has been no reviews on the entitlement as mandated under Article 112D of the federal constitution after 1969, other than the agreement in 2020 by the previous Warisan-led Sabah government with Pakatan Harapan (PH) to increase the entitlement to RM53.4 million.
“The Barisan Nasional (BN) government maintained the RM26.7 million payment from 1974 until 2018 and was continued by the PH government until 2019.”
He added that the current GRS-BN state government did not agree to RM53.4 million and it was revised to RM125.6 million for 2022, pending further negotiations on the final amount.
Meanwhile, Sabah Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said the state will explore all legal avenues to ensure the return of its revenue, adding that discussions are ongoing.
“We will continue to negotiate on this, but while we are saying we agree to disagree, the federal government should not give us nothing. This is why both parties have agreed to increase the special annual grant of RM125 million.
“The amount should be increased in subsequent years until we reach an agreement of a final amount,” he told reporters after attending the state’s Hari Raya celebrations here today.
He added that Sabah will consider engaging an independent assessor if both parties fail to reach an agreement.
On May 6, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs) Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili urged Sabah to state its claim on the 40% formula and the back payments owed since 1974.
He said he was prepared to facilitate talks with the federal leaders as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was open to listening to Sabah’s claim provided there was a legal basis. – The Vibes, May 7, 2022
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