KOTA KINABALU: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is keen for the direct implementation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 safeguards for Sabah and Sarawak instead of having committees to look into the matter.
This was revealed to members of Sabah cabinet who met Anwar last weekend at Putrajaya, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said Friday (Dec 2).
Kitingan said Anwar indicated to them that there was no need to prolong the matter by holding meetings through a special Cabinet committee.
"Anwar asked why there was a need for committees, why don’t we just implement it," Kitingan said in relation to Anwar's response on a Sabah minister's query if he was going to maintain the previous government's special committee on the rights of Sabah and Sarawak.
Kitingan said that he was pleasantly surprised with Anwar's response to the Sabah Cabinet delegation led by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor
“I even asked ‘are you sure (on the implementation)?' and Anwar responded with a yes," Kitingan said after launching the Heart of Borneo symposium here.
On Sabah's push for the 40% net federal revenue returned to the state, Kitingan said that they needed to determine what was the "federal income" from the state while also defining the word "net revenue."
“I believe it won't be difficult (to resolve it). I am hopeful that it will happen soon. It is our money," he added.
Kitingan said that Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), led by Hajiji, did not make any representation for positions in the federal government being led by Anwar, who is Pakatan Harapan chairman.
GRS, which was aligned with Perikatan Nasional, gave its support to Anwar's unity government.
Kitingan also said that they will make an announcement of Sabah STAR's position as a member of Perikatan.
Last week, Kitingan hinted that Sabah STAR would be leaving Perikatan and the party would automatically lose its membership if they did not attend the Pereikatan meetings.
