In what many Sabahans are hailing as a historic victory, Putrajaya has decided not to appeal the Kota Kinabalu High Court’s landmark ruling affirming the state’s constitutional right to 40 per cent of federal revenue collected within its borders.
The federal government’s decision — long overdue in the eyes of many — comes after a dramatic chain of events: the resignation of UPKO president Ewon Benedick from the Cabinet and a viral confrontation between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and a Sabahan man during his walkabout at the Gaya Street Market in Kota Kinabalu. Together, they ignited a wave of pressure that Putrajaya could not ignore.
Ewon, who quit as Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development Minister, said he could not remain in the Cabinet while the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) “disregarded” Sabah’s constitutional rights. His decision, rooted in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and the Cobbold Commission Report, was a rare act of political integrity.
“It would be improper for me to continue serving when the AGC’s position disregards the historical foundation of Malaysia’s formation,” he said, stressing that UPKO’s struggle has always been about upholding Sabah’s rights.
That moral stance gained further force after the viral Gaya Street exchange, where a Sabahan man publicly asked Anwar: “When is the 40 per cent coming?” : “When is the 40 per cent coming?” The prime minister replied that the federal government had already allocated RM17 billion to Sabah despite collecting only RM10 billion in taxes — an answer that was immediately challenged by the man, who pointed out that the 40 per cent was an entitlement, not a federal handout.
The exchange struck a nerve across social media, turning the anonymous man into a symbol of Sabah’s long struggle for fairness. His challenge, paired with Ewon’s principled resignation, transformed what had been a technical fiscal dispute into a matter of dignity and identity for the state.
But politics, too, played its part. With the 17th Sabah State Election scheduled for November 29, the timing of Putrajaya’s decision looks far from coincidental. According to the Election Commission, over 1.7 million voters are set to head to the polls, with candidate nominations on November 15 and early voting on November 25. The election will see 73 contested seats out of 79, and an estimated RM116.8 million allocated to run the polls.
The contest will be the first major electoral test for Anwar Ibrahim’s unity government since taking office — and for his coalition partners Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), who currently share power in the state.
That election is less than a month away probably played a big part in Putrajaya's decision ,because it’s hard to believe that the federal government’s sudden willingness to back down on the 40 per cent issue is unrelated to the election calendar. With Sabah’s voters preparing to decide their state’s future, conceding the fiscal battle to the state is a politically convenient — and arguably necessary — move.
If there had been no election on the horizon, would Putrajaya would have relented? I for one, certainly have my doubts. After all, Sabah’s fight for its 40 per cent share has dragged on for nearly half a century, through multiple administrations that either delayed or ignored the issue.
The High Court’s ruling in May found that the federal government had acted unlawfully by withholding the entitlement and ordered it to reach an agreement with the Sabah government within 180 days, covering the years 1974 to 2021. Initially, the AGC signalled it might appeal — until public pressure made that politically impossible.
In the end, Sabah appears to have triumphed not just through legal victory but through the combined power of principled leadership, public courage, and political timing.
Ewon Benedick and the anonymous man of Gaya Street — one inside the system, the other from the streets — have together achieved what generations of Sabahans have long demanded: that Putrajaya finally listen.
And whether by conviction or calculation, Anwar Ibrahim’s government has finally acted.
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