Kota Kinabalu: Kapayan Assemblyman Chin Tek Ming said he will put more pressure on the State Assembly, including resorting to legal action, if necessary, over the rejection of his private motion on the State’s 40 per cent Federal revenue claim at the just-ended sitting.
“If the Government refuses to act, we will force action,” he said.
“If action was already underway, why reject a motion designed to strengthen and bind that action?” Chin said, along with other Warisan assembly reps.
“The amount claimed, the legal basis and the next steps if enforcement is required must be made public,” he said.
He said the Government had cited ongoing court proceedings and a letter of demand dated April 10 as grounds for rejecting the motion.
However, Chin said he submitted his motion on April 2, more than a week before the letter was issued, and said the sequence of events suggested the government’s response was reactive rather than strategic and amounted to an attempt to avoid accountability.
His motion had called on the assembly to affirm Sabah’s constitutional right to 40 per cent of net federal revenue, demand full payment for 2022 to 2025, including arrears amounting to billions of ringgit and set a maximum 60-day negotiation period with the Federal Government.
It also sought to compel the State Government to obtain legal advice and initiate court proceedings if negotiations failed, while ensuring full transparency on actual revenue collected from Sabah each year.
“The conclusion is unavoidable. The government does not want to be bound. They do not want timelines. They do not want accountability. And they do not want to be compelled to act,” he said.
Chin also claimed there was a fundamental contradiction in the government’s position, noting that the ruling bloc had itself acknowledged that the 40 per cent entitlement was clearly provided for under the Constitution, yet refused to formalise that commitment through the Assembly.
“This is no longer about capability. This is about political will,” he said.
