Armizan Backs Putrajaya S Appeal Says Only Parts Of Judgment Involved

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Gabungan Rakyat Sabah deputy secretary-general Armizan Ali is treading carefully on Sabah’s 40 percent revenue entitlement.
Speaking at a press conference today, the federal minister appears to be defending Putrajaya’s move to appeal against the High Court’s decision - while trying to avoid the backlash that has already redrawn political lines in the state.
“The 40 percent is Sabah’s right,” Armizan said, but stressed that the appeal filed by the Attorney-General’s Chambers targets specific parts of the court judgment, not the entitlement itself.
He also pointed out that it was necessary to address the 48 “lost years” when Sabah received only RM26.7 million annually despite Article 112D of the Federal Constitution requiring periodic reviews.
Armizan clearly holds a different stance compared to Upko president Ewon Benedick, who quit the cabinet on Nov 8 and pulled his party out of Pakatan Harapan on Nov 10 after being dissatisfied over Putrajaya’s approach to the matter.
High Court verdict
On Oct 17, Kota Kinabalu High Court judge Celestina Stuel Galid ruled that the federal government acted unlawfully and beyond its powers under the Constitution by failing to honour Sabah’s 40 percent share of federal revenue for nearly five decades.
Following this, she declared the special grant review orders jointly issued by the federal and state governments were “unlawful, ultra vires (beyond the powers), and irrational”.
The court also issued a mandamus order directing Putrajaya to conduct a new revenue review with the Sabah government under Article 112D of the Constitution and to agree on the state’s 40 percent entitlement for each financial year from 1974 to 2021, with the review to commence within 90 days and conclude within 180 days.
While Armizan backed the court’s decision on the revenue, he also argued that Putrajaya’s decision to appeal certain parts of the judgment does not undermine the entitlement itself.
He also said it was needed to resolve the long-standing “lost years”.
“The Constitution provides space for any party to exhaust all legal avenues. We must look at the Constitution in its entirety, not just one clause,” Armizan stressed.
For the record, between 1974 and 2018, the federal government paid Sabah a fixed sum of RM26.7 million - even though the Constitution requires Putrajaya to return 40 percent of federal revenue collected from the state.
No review was carried out over those 48 years, despite Article 112D requiring periodic reviews.
In 2022, then-finance minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz told Parliament that the 40 percent entitlement had “ceased to be applicable”, citing a 1969–1973 revision made during the Emergency.
GRS being pragmatic
Extolling the Madani administration, Armizan said that, unlike previous governments, the present government is the first to formally recognise the entitlement as active and to use the 40 percent formula as the basis for negotiations.
He also emphasised that GRS was taking a pragmatic approach towards it, instead of getting confrontational.
“We need unity in Sabah to strengthen our bargaining power. We do not use a confrontational approach. We look at constructive engagement and being results-oriented.”
On that note, Armizan highlighted the creation of a dedicated negotiation platform for the 40 percent issue, calling it a significant improvement over earlier Malaysia Agreement 1963 committees.
“We want this dedicated platform to continue, not only to resolve the current issue but for reviews every five years,” he added. - Mkini

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