Kota Kinabalu: Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan is confident that Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital tracking can offer a permanent, automated mechanism to calculate Sabah’s 40 per cent tax revenue sharing entitlement.
“The true 40 per cent constitutional entitlement approaches RM20 billion annually, eclipsing all interim payments,” he said, noting that the 1963 base revenue was RM48.8 million. The current 2026 interim payment of RM600 million represents roughly 3 per cent of the true estimated annual constitutional entitlement.
He estimated that the derived revenue from Sabah amounted to RM48 billion to RM50 billion per year flowing into the federal coffers. Therefore, the 40 per cent owed to Sabah amounts from RM19.2 billion to RM20 billion per year, prior to deducting recent interim payments made by the Federal Government.
The former Deputy Chief Minister said this at the “40 per cent - Our Right, Our Money – Understanding the 40 per cent, Rights, History & Mechanism” seminar organised by the People Development Foundation (PDF) at the Lintas Platinum Hotel, Saturday.
He was bullish on the AI future which could transcend the flawed limbo past of manual auditing, non-existent five-year political negotiations leading to stagnation and an era of “Lost Years”.
“Real time tracking of digital systems can capture every transaction derived from Sabah, regardless of where it is collected in Malaysia.
“Artificial intelligence can instantaneously identify the geographic origin of the revenue and apply the Article 112C formula as stipulated in the Federal Constitution.
“The 40 per cent portion is automatically segregated and routed, eliminating the need for retroactive manual audits,” he said.
According to Tan Sri Anifah Aman, the moderator of the forum event, he recalled that on July 15, 2015, he presented the first memorandum on Sabah’s Revenue Rights, including the 40 per cent tax revenue sharing entitlement, import and excise duties on petroleum products and export duties on crude oil up to 10 per cent ad valorem value in lieu of oil royalties.
“Arising from the presentation, the then Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak formed the first MA63 Special Cabinet Committee in 2025/2016 co-chaired by me and Datuk Sri Nancy Shukri from Sarawak,” Anifah, a former Foreign Minister, said.
The 40 per cent entitlement is the definitive financial bedrock of Sabah’s partnership integration into the formation of Malaysia. Fulfilling the MA63 blueprint requires honouring Sabah’s Constitutional Right.
It is vital that the Federal Government acknowledges that the 40 per cent entitlement to tax revenue sharing is a foundational constitutional pillar, and not mere discretionary federal subsidy.
The audience concurred with the views and that any constitutional right that is acknowledged but not implemented is, in practical terms, no right at all. A duty that is accepted but not performed offers no protection or benefit to the people it was meant to serve.
