Kota Kinabalu: Kapayan Assemblyman Chin Tek Ming challenged the RM3.019 billion figure presented by State Finance Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun as Sabah’s revenue entitlement.
“The figure falls short of what the Federal Constitution guarantees and cannot be treated as full compliance,” Chin said in a statement, Wednesday.
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Chin said the figure cited by Masidi during the State Legislative Assembly sitting from April 27-30 was based on a selectively defined revenue base that left out oil and gas revenues and related federal taxation.
“Sabah is not a beggar and we will not accept charity disguised as entitlement,” he said.
“We demand exactly 40 per cent as guaranteed by the Constitution, every cent due, nothing more, nothing less. The Federal Government must now discharge its obligation in full,” he added.
Chin said the exclusion of major revenue streams was not a technical matter but went directly to the legal integrity of the computation under Article 112C of the Federal Constitution and the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
He said a calculation that left out substantial revenue derived from Sabah could not be presented as full compliance with the State’s 40 per cent constitutional entitlement.
He also pointed to what he described as an unanswered central question from the Minister’s speech, namely who determines the scope of revenue derived from Sabah and under what legal authority sectors such as oil and gas are excluded.
“Until there is a transparent, jointly agreed and legally defensible definition of revenue, any figure, including RM3.019 billion, must be regarded as incomplete, provisional and constitutionally contestable,” he said.
Chin said the Government’s continued reliance on interim fiscal figures risked misleading the public into believing that partial payments amounted to a resolution, which he said was inaccurate and undermined the seriousness of Sabah’s constitutional position.
Chin said the final computation must include oil and gas revenues derived from Sabah, all related federal taxes, duties and income streams, and a complete and transparent accounting framework consistent with MA63 and the Federal Constitution.
