40pc revenue: Sabah may appoint independent assessor
Published on: Tuesday, April 23, 2024
By: Jozie John
“We agreed to the one-year negotiation period which expires in July. If no consensus is reached regarding the 40 per cent net revenue entitlement, it is up to Sabah to take the option to appoint an independent assessor,” Masidi said.
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah may appoint its own independent assessor to calculate the 40 per cent net revenue owed by the Federal Government if no agreement is reached by July, said Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.
The State Finance Minister said the amount to be agreed upon is still pending as until now there’s no clear answer from the Federal Government.
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“It takes two to tango. We made eight requests for the data to determine the amount that we should be demanding from the Federal Government but until now there has been no reasonable answer.
“We agreed to the one-year negotiation period which expires in July. If no consensus is reached regarding the 40 per cent net revenue entitlement, it is up to Sabah to take the option to appoint an independent assessor,” he said.
Masidi (GRS-Karanaan) was replying to an additional question from Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Lamag) during the question-and-answer session at the State Assembly sitting here on Monday.
Bung had asked whether the State intended to appoint an independent assessor to determine the amount owed.
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Responding to another question from Datuk Yong Teck Lee (Nominated), Masidi agreed that calculations for the 40 per cent federal net revenue entitlement were actually not that complicated, if the Federal Government provided the State with the data it needed.
Datuk Darell Leiking (Warisan-Moyog) suggested that Putrajaya was not genuinely interested in assisting Sabah in regaining its rights.
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Masidi responded by saying that MPs from both sides needed to support raising this issue in Parliament.
Bung then asked how MPs could do so when the State had taken a “step back” in claiming and fighting for the rights of the people by accepting an interim payment without consulting other State Cabinet members.
“The interim payment is just a short-term payment while we continue to fight for our rights. We will continue to fight and this includes getting back the arrears owed to us from the beginning until now,” said Masidi.
Earlier, State Assistant Finance Minister Tan Lee Fatt (PH-Likas) highlighted actions taken, including setting up the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) Implementation Action Council Technical Committee, agreeing to an interim payment, attempting to find the right calculation formula and agreeing to the amount to pay and receive, among others.
He said the Federal Government has paid RM125.6 million interim payment in 2022 and RM300 million last year while negotiations were ongoing.
Tan added that the negotiation time is one year from July 18, 2023 until July 18, 2024.
“However, when the negotiation period ends and if it fails to reach any agreement, then the State Government has the option to appoint an independent assessor accordingly with Article 112D(6) of the Federal Constitution,” he said, adding the State Government would not stop fighting for Sabah’s rights as enshrined in the MA63.
During Monday’s meeting, a total of six questions were asked, covering initiatives to tackle Sabah’s poverty rate, measures to increase the income of “land fishermen”, total foreign investments, actions taken to solve water woes, and housing schemes for fire or disaster victims in Semporna.
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