KOTA KINABALU: Parti Warisan expressed disappointment after the Sabah Legislative Assembly rejected a private member’s motion seeking to establish a binding framework for the state’s 40% revenue entitlement.
The state opposition party said the rejection showed the Sabah government’s reluctance to commit to timelines and accountability.
"We are saddened that the government was not keen to formalise a clear timeline for Sabah’s 40% entitlement.
"This was not rhetoric, but a concrete framework with figures, deadlines and enforceable mechanisms," its Kapayan assemblyman Chin Teck Ming said in a statement on Friday (May 1).
Chin tabled a motion, on behalf of the party, calling for recognition of Sabah’s constitutional right, full payment of arrears for 2022 to 2025 with a maximum 60-day negotiation timeline, and mandatory legal proceedings if talks failed.
However, the four-day state assembly sitting which ended on Thursday (April 30) rejected the motion as the state government was already in the process of negotiating with the Federal Government for the payments.
During a heated debate towards the end of the sitting, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor dismissed aspersions that the state was scared to pursue the matter, reiterating that Sabah had appointed a King’s Counsel to pursue the state’s constitutional right to the revenue.
Chin said the state government defended its decision by citing ongoing court proceedings and a letter of demand dated April 10 which was not disclosed publicly.
"The rejection of the motion is not about capability, it is about political will.
"The government itself acknowledges the entitlement is provided for under the Constitution, yet when given the chance to formalise that commitment in the assembly, it refused," Chin added.
"Enough of statements without commitment. If the government refuses to act, we will force action," he said.
