Warisan Mp Putrajaya Robbed Sabah Of 40pct Revenue Rights

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Azis Jamman (Warisan-Sepanggar) has claimed that the amendments to the Federal Constitution involving the rights and interests of the Sabah state were made without following the correct procedure.
Azis (above) based this allegation on the Finance Ministry’s response to his earlier claim that its minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz had misled the Dewan Rakyat by declaring that Sabah’s right to 40 percent of its own tax revenue, which was enshrined in the 1963 Malaysia Agreement (MA63), was no longer applied.
Aziz said, along with the answer he received, he also received a document in the form of a government gazette that was classified as confidential.
“When I checked the government gazette website, we did not obtain this document and it was never made public.
“When I checked the Federal Constitution, the gazetting involved a constitutional amendment that Sabah’s claim to 40 percent of its own tax revenue was no longer applicable.
“But when I referred to the Constitution, I found no amendment was made in the Dewan Rakyat,” he said.
‘Provide explanation’
For the record, amendments to the Federal Constitution required at least two-thirds support of the Dewan Rakyat before it could be approved.
Azis described the incident as a “robbery” of the rights and interests of the state of Sabah by the government without the knowledge of the people of Sabah.
“I cautioned the finance minister that this amounted to a robbery with clear violations of the Federal Constitution. I want him to provide an explanation on this matter,” he said.
He had interjected under meeting rule 36(2) before the debate on the Labuan Companies (Amendment) Bill 2022 commenced in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Isnaraissah Munirah Majlis @ Fakharudy (Warisan-Kota Belud) had also raised the issue.
The two MPs were then instructed by deputy speaker Ramli Mohd Nor to submit a formal appeal to the lower house.
Prior to this, on March 22, Azis was reported to have referred Zafrul to the Parliamentary Rights and Freedoms Committee for allegedly issuing a misleading statement on the said tax to the Dewan Rakyat.
He said Zafrul responded that the return of 40 percent of Sabah’s own net revenue collection was no longer applicable and this contradicted the statement by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs) Maximus Ongkili that the matter had not yet been discussed.
On March 18, Ongkili said Sabah held its own views on the matter which needed to be addressed at the special council meeting after the end of this parliamentary sitting.
He had also indicated that the amount to be given back to Sabah would also be decided at the special council meeting. - Mkini

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