KOTA KINABALU: An opposition assemblyman wants to know if Sabah will object to a partial appeal by the Federal Government on the High Court decision mandating the review and payment of the state's 40% net revenue claim.
Jamil Hamzah (Warisan-Bugaya) said in the state assembly on Tuesday (Dec 16) that the revenue share payment is a federal obligation enshrined in the Federal Constitution, and there can be no compromise on this.
He said any compromise or delay in payment is akin to justice denied to Sabahans, who have waited for decades to have their rights fulfilled.
"So I want to ask the Finance Ministry, what is the state’s stand on this and whether they would continue pushing for the 40% by objecting if (Putrajaya) decides to appeal this decision," he asked while debating the state budget for 2026.
On other matters, he asked if the state could afford to give the same amount of development allocations to constituencies held by the opposition as those under the state government.
He said Sabah’s total expenditure for next year is estimated at RM6.402bil against projected revenue of RM6.430bil, resulting in a surplus of RM28mil.
Jamil said states like Selangor, Perak and Negri Sembilan had smaller budgets but were able to allocate the same amount of funds to both government and opposition assemblymen.
"So, for Sabah’s Finance Ministry, with its bigger budget than these three states, are you not able to do the same as them?" he asked.
He suggested that the state assembly act as an "authority figure" in distributing allocations equally to all assemblymen, regardless of their political affiliations.
He also asked why there was no mention of revenue from the Syariah Court mentioned in the list of projected income for the state next year.
On another matter, he proposed relocating the rubbish dump near Kg Selamat in his constituency as the 1,300 villagers there were affected by the stench and were having health issues.
He also suggested that the special assistance of one month's salary, or a minimum of RM2,000, for state civil servants be paid in one lump sum, instead of two instalments.
