SANDAKAN – Instead of being an intervenor in the Sabah Law Society’s (SLS) suit against Putrajaya, the state government should have rejected the interim payment of RM125.6 million in 2022, said state Perikatan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee.
He claimed that the state government applying to intervene is viewed as a hurdle for Sabahans to secure the 40% grant revenue, which was enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
“The Sabah government needs to review the interim payment as well as pull out as an intervenor. It should start a new suit to fight for the rights of the Sabahans under Article 112C and 112D of the Federal Constitution,” the Beluran MP said in a statement today.
He said the real issue is Sabah’s rights under the constitution, which could not be solved by merely accepting an interim payment, which is not even close to what the state should have gotten.
Kiandee added that the 2022 agreement with the federal government over the interim five-year annual grant was unconstitutional and violated the rights of the Sabahans.
“Under Part VII, Article 112D, it is stated that the special grant must be reviewed by 1969, six years after the formation of Malaysia, and one time in 1974 – this was never done.
“The Sabah government should work with SLS to initiate a legal fight for the 40% grant revenue without agreeing to other payment schemes.”
On Thursday, counsel Tengku Datuk Fuad Tengku Ahmad, who represented the Sabah government, made the application to intervene in the appeal before the Court of Appeal.
The appellate court had fixed May 24 for case management after a three-person bench adjourned its decision on the federal government’s appeal against the leave granted to SLS to seek a judicial review regarding the state’s 40% grant revenue. – May 18, 2024