KOTA KINABALU: The GRS state government’s effort in getting the federal government to agree for a 4.7-fold increase in the annual Special Grant amount owed to the state has been a landmark success but the fight for the return of the 40 per cent net revenues continues.
STAR Youth Treasurer exco Neilson Martin Indang said that it remains the basis for Sabah to agree to form the Federation of Malaysia that 40 per cent of the net revenues derived by the federation must be returned to Sabah.
“The Sabah government has always been fighting for the 40 per cent revenue. Since 1963, we’ve been receiving only RM26 million from the federal government every year.
“But under the GRS government, we’ve managed to get a five-fold increase to RM125.6 million every year now. This has never been achieved before and it was a mighty effort on our part to get this for our state and our people,” he said.
Neilson stressed however that the increase does not mean that the Sabah government will not surrender the return of the state’s 40 per cent net revenues under Article 112C and Part V of the 10th Schedule in the Constitution and its mandatory five-year reviews under Article 112D.
“It’s quite a significant increase from RM26.7 million to RM125.6 million. But I can assure, we don’t stop there because this concerns our rights when we agreed to form Malaysia,” he added.
The federal government, in April, had reached an agreement with the GRS state government on the contentious issue of the annual Special Grant amount owed to Sabah. The amount will be increased every year from 2023 to 2026.
In a joint statement then between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, announced that negotiations for the claims of 40 per cent of the total income from Sabah will continue.
The BN maintained the RM26.7 million from 1974 to 2018 and was continued by the Pakatan Harapan government until 2019. RM53.4 million was then paid in 2020.
However, the GRS Sabah government did not agree with the amount and it was revised to RM125.6 million for 2022.
Neilson highlighted that other than a so called agreement by the then Warisan government with PH federal government for the 40 per cent entitlement to be increased to RM53.4 million, there had been no revision of the entitlement as mandated under Article 112D after 1969.
“Though it’s quite a landmark achievement as compared to any previous state governments, the RM125.6 million is only a scratch of what Sabah is entitled. But the GRS government will ensure that the federal government returns the 40 per cent revenues derived from Sabah,” he said.-pr/BNN
