Sabah Harapan State Govt Shouldn T Give In On 40pct Revenue Formula

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The Sabah government should not have agreed to review federal government funding for the state without seeking recognition of the state's rights under the Federal Constitution.
In a statement, Sabah Pakatan Harapan's leadership council said the state government must demand that the federal government acknowledges that the government has the right to 40 percent of the state's revenue under the Federal Constitution before agreeing to review the quantum of the special grant under Article 112D of the same law.
"The state government of Sabah should have insisted on the settlement and recognition of the 40 percent formula before agreeing on any review even if it meant that the matter must first be brought and adjudicated by the court," said the coalition.
Last week, Putrajaya invoked Article 112D of the Federal Constitution to enter negotiations with the Sabah government over special grant payments.
Following this, the quantum was increased to RM125.6 million - 4.7 times higher than the RM26.7 million which was in place since 1969.
Critics have argued that this move was against the spirit of Subsection 2(1) of Part IV of the Tenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution, which states Sabah's special grant amount shall be "two-fifths" of the amount of net revenue derived by the federal government.
Dangerous precedence
Sabah Harapan argued that the state government's deal with the federal government has set a dangerous precedence for future reviews which may also ignore the 40 percent formula.
"This is crucial considering the answer given by the Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz in Parliament recently stating that the 40 percent formula is no longer applicable.
"Such lopsided interpretation by the federal government in not recognising the 40 percent formula would have a severe effect in securing Sabah's constitutional entitlement when our forefathers agreed to form the federation of Malaysia almost 59 years ago," said the coalition. - Mkini

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