KOTA KINABALU: Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan has admitted that Sabah leaders of the past were partially to blame for the non-payment of the state's 40% net revenue share as provided for in the Federal Constitution.
The backbencher Tambunan assemblyman and former deputy chief minister said that some leaders were either afraid of the now-repealed Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA) or too busy protecting their political interests.
However, that does not mean that the non-payment could be allowed any longer, or that current leaders should not fight for what is rightfully Sabah's, he added.
Kitingan said Sabah is listed as one of the poorest states in the country, when it is in fact the richest, thanks to the abundance of natural resources, including rare earth elements and minerals.
"But we were made fools of and made to be poor. Yes, this was partially due to the weakness and failure of our own leaders," the Sabah STAR president said when debating the state budget for 2026 in the legislative assembly on Tuesday (Dec 16).
Taking Singapore as an example of a country that developed rapidly, he said it managed to do so because of clean, professional and non-corrupt governance.
"Sabah has so much in terms of natural resources, whereas Singapore has none. All they have is good governance," he said.
He asked that the current government act firmly on behalf of the state’s interest, and get back what had been denied to it since 1974, the last review of special payments to Sabah.
He suggested setting up a committee to finalise the amount and payment mechanism, stressing that from this year, the payment of 40% net revenue share should not be delayed because the taxes from Sabah have been paid directly to the Federal Government.
"So they are only paying us back 40% of what has been collected from Sabah," Kitingan said, adding that overdue payments must still be fulfilled, whether in stages or other methods.
He said the Federal Government’s claim that it would go bankrupt if it paid Sabah the 40% share was untrue, because the payment would involve money that had already been collected, not from other states or from anticipated revenue.
He asked for a clearer and more transparent calculation of taxes and revenues collected from Sabah.
