Kota Kinabalu: Parti Warisan urged the Federal Government to immediately halt the multi-billion ringgit Bandar Madani project in Putrajaya and instead channel national spending priorities toward fulfilling Sabah’s 40 per cent revenue entitlement.
Warisan Senior Advisor Dr Chong Eng Leong said Sabah’s money must be used for Sabah’s people, not for federal vanity projects.
“The Federal Government should pay at least RM10 billion to Sabah next year as the first instalment of the 40pc revenue debt owed since 1974,” he said.
He said the Federation has long benefited from Sabah’s contribution, and the least it can do is repay what is constitutionally due.
“Let’s be blunt, the court told the truth. Successive governments failed to perform their constitutional duty to Sabah. Anwar is the Prime Minister now. The Constitution is clear. Do your duty,” he said.
Dr Chong added that the Federal Government has no excuse to delay payment, pointing to billions spent over the years on cash aid programmes and mega projects in Peninsular Malaysia.
“If the Federal Government can afford to build Putrajaya, fund BR1M and STR handouts, and launch new mega projects, it certainly can afford to pay what it owes Sabah,” he said.
According to him, more than RM90 billion was spent between 2012 and 2025 on programs such as BR1M, BSH, BKM, STR and SARA programmes, that “overwhelmingly benefit citizens in Peninsular Malaysia”, while Sabahans, just 10 per cent of Malaysia’s population, receive only a fraction.
Before that, he said, billions more had gone into prestige developments like the Petronas Twin Towers(RM6 billion), North-South Expressway(RM1 billion), Putrajaya(RM34 billion) and the Penang Second Bridge(RM4.8 billion).
Now, another RM4 billion is being reserved for the Bandar Madani project, even as Sabah grapples with routine power outages, water rationing and dilapidated schools.
