KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau (Tuaran-PH) has called on the government to release the breakdown of its annual revenue from Sabah by presenting it in Parliament.
He claimed that while questions about the matter were constantly raised in Parliament, they were never answered by Putrajaya whether in writing or parliamentary response.
“I have been an MP for five terms and each time this question was asked, it was never given a response and instead, all were avoiding to give an answer.
“If this is so, I believe the agencies involved in the collection of revenue giving the information to the concerned ministers such as the auditor-general, the Statistics Department and the accountant general have all failed in their jobs,” he told the Dewan Rakyat.
Tangau claimed that he had raised this matter again during his debate on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s speech where he sought the minister-in-charge to state the federal revenue collected from Sabah, adding he was also prepared to accept the response through a written parliamentary reply.
He said the breakdown must state clearly the amount collected from taxes, dividends, levy and other forms of collection by the federal government from the state.
Tangau said this will easily allow Sabah to calculate its 40% entitlement as stated in the constitution.
Article 112C and Part IV of the Tenth Schedule states that Sabah will receive in the form of a special grant two-fifth of the revenue collected by the federal government from Sabah.
However, this is subject to the limitations and financial position of the federal government which demands a review of the special grant as per Article 112C of the federal constitution.
The amount of federal revenue collected from Sabah has never been made public, preventing the state being able to calculate its rightful entitlement.
In response, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan expressed in his Budget 2023 winding-up speech his willingness to provide a written reply to Tangau over the matter. – The Vibes, March 14, 2023
