The Federal Government is negotiating with Sarawak on its MA63 special grant after approving a higher interim grant of RM1.5 billion for Sabah.
KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Government is continuing negotiations with the Sarawak government on increasing the state’s special grant under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim told the Dewan Rakyat today.
He said discussions remained ongoing following Putrajaya’s decision to raise Sabah’s interim special grant to RM1.5 billion.
According to Anwar, the higher interim grant for Sabah was based on an agreement reached under MA63, while talks with Sarawak were still in progress.
“The interim grant for Sabah is higher based on the understanding reached under MA63. We are continuing negotiations with Sarawak,” he said during Prime Minister’s Question Time.
He was responding to Datuk Seri Doris Sophia Brodi (GPS-Sri Aman), who asked whether the government intended to increase Sarawak’s special grant following the approval of a higher interim grant for Sabah.
Doris said federal allocations to Sarawak remained inadequate compared with the revenue generated by the state and sought clarification on measures being taken to improve the distribution of federal funds to better meet the needs of Sarawakians.
Anwar said the issue had been discussed with Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg during recent meetings in Bintulu and Kuching.
However, he said no announcement was made during those engagements as both governments had agreed to focus on what he described as the historic RM1.8 billion payment made by the Sarawak government to the federal government.
He explained that the payment was related to the transfer of Bintulu Port to the Sarawak government and described it as a significant milestone in federal-state relations.
“During the latest discussions with the Premier in Bintulu and Kuching, we did not make any announcement because we wanted to focus on the historic RM1.8 billion payment made by the Sarawak government to the federal government,” he said.
Earlier, Anwar reiterated that federal allocations to states should not be assessed solely based on the amount of tax revenue collected from each state.
He added that almost every state receives more in federal allocations than the tax revenue it contributes, with only Selangor and Penang recording higher tax collections than the federal expenditure allocated to them.
