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DEAR YAB Datuk Seri Prime Minister Anwar, THANK YOU FOR THE INTERIM GRANT OF RM1.5B. I am writing this open letter, as a Sabahan, to express my thanks to you and to express some reservations.

I must give credit and appreciation where they are due.  I thank you because you are the most considerate PM for Sabah in regards to Sabah’s constitutional rights on the 40% of the net revenue for Sabah. All Previous PMs and Finance Ministers, without exception, have either ignored, refused or procrastinate recognition of what is due to Sabah since MA63.

The average past “Interim Grant” when it was finally given was only RM26.7 million, was a chicken-feed sum compared to the revenues from oil and gas and others sources that the Federal Government has gotten out of Sabah.

You have increased this Interim Grant exponentially to RM300M, then to RM600M and in your latest announcement in KDCA, you have upped it to RM1.5B for the fiscal year of 2026.

In addition, I also wish to express appreciation on your policy to recognize Sabah’s right to the 40%. 

PLEASE GIVE SABAH CERTAINTY ON THE PAYMENT OF 40%. Please give Sabah a closure on this 40% saga. It has gone on long enough.

A grant is just a grant by any stretch of legal imagination. The word interim can only give more cold comfort. Combine these two words together, it can mean the grant can be given this year and withdrawn, reduced next year or by the next PM. Sabah is a 1/3 partner of Malaysia.

All Sabahans want is 40% as our entitlement, our constitutional right. Call it by any name, so long the Sabah’s entitlement of 40% is not settled with certainty, the problem remains hanging. 

I would prefer the RM1.5 B that you have promised to be treated as a partial payment for Sabah’s 40% constitutional entitlement, not an Interim Grant.

As PM and Finance Minister, please give Sabah a closure to the 65 years of deprivation and neglect. For the sake of proper governance, there must be certainty in our 40% constitutional right. An Interim Grant can never give certainty.

Given the many high-power officials and the sophisticated hi-tech computer power at your disposal as PM and Finance Minister, surely you can finalize and expedite the 40% payment within a decent time frame. It has taken a long time already. Please don’t keep Sabahans waiting, give us a definitive date.

Below are 2 charts on Sabahans’ anxiety over the Interim Grant.

In conclusion, please allow me to say this. Your offer of RM1.5 billion Interim Grant is another milestone, albeit a much improved one from RM26.7 million, in our painful 65 year of struggle for the 40%.

BUT THIS RM1.5 BILLION IS ANOTHER MILESTONE, NOT THE DESTINATION THAT SABAHANS DESIRE.

“The destination remains the absolute fulfilment of Article 112C of the Federal Constitution—a permanent, gazetted formula returning 40% of net revenue derived from Sabah.”

I remain yours gratefully, John Lo