Kota Kinabalu: It is not yet time for the Sabah Government to implement Article 112D (6) of the Federal Constitution in demanding 40 per cent of revenue from the Federal Government, according to Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan.
He said since the process to resolve all matters related to this demand is still ongoing, it is premature to implement Article 112D (6).
“At this stage, we are not ready because we are still in the process of resolving all these matters. Until this issue is resolved, we do not want to delve into it. We have not reached that stage,” he said when asked about the necessity for the Sabah Government to implement Article 112D (6) in relation to the 40 per cent revenue claim following the Special Interim Grant payment of only RM600 million.
Under Article 112D (6) of the Federal Constitution, if both the Federal Government and the Sabah Government cannot reach an agreement on any matter concerning the review of the Special Grant, the matter shall be referred to an independent assessor, and the recommendations of the independent assessor shall be binding on both governments.
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However, the Sabah Government aims to resolve matters related to the Special Grant as soon as possible, hopefully by next year.
On Sept 12, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that the Special Grant to Sabah and Sarawak would be doubled to RM600 million starting next year.
This was conveyed by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof after the recent Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) Implementation Action Council.
The increase of the Special Grant from RM300 million to RM600 million was supposed to be announced in the 2025 Budget, but the Prime Minister decided to announce it earlier during the MA63 meeting.
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