KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government will appoint an independent assessor if negotiations with the Federal Government fail to settle the final amount of the state’s constitutional special grant.
Assistant Finance Minister Datuk Mohd Ishak Ayub said while Sabah remained firm that its 40% revenue entitlement must be fully implemented, the state would continue trying to reach an agreement through negotiations.
“If an agreement on the final amount of the special grant cannot be reached through negotiations, the Sabah government believes an independent assessor should be appointed,” he said during the question-and-answer session at the state legislative assembly sitting on Monday (July 20).
He said the appointment would be made under Article 112D(6) of the Federal Constitution.
“The Sabah government remains firm that the 40% formula, as provided for under the Federal Constitution, must be fully implemented,” he said.
Mohd Ishak was responding collectively to questions from Tamparuli assemblyman Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau, Senallang assemblyman Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal and Sekong assemblyman Alias Sani.
He also told the House that Sabah received RM600mil from the Federal Government on June 12 as part of the RM1.5bil interim special grant announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“The Sabah government has requested that the remaining RM900mil be channelled to the state within this year,” he said.
Anwar announced the increase in the interim special grant during the state-level Kaamatan celebration on May 30.
Mohd Ishak said the announcement was followed by several exchanges of letters between the state and federal governments dated June 9, June 19 and June 26.
“The Sabah government stresses that its agreement to the new RM1.5bil special grant rate is only an interim arrangement and cannot be interpreted as agreement on the final amount of the special grant,” he said.
He added that accepting the interim amount was without prejudice to Sabah’s constitutional rights under Articles 112C and 112D and would not stop negotiations on the implementation of the 40% formula.
In a supplementary question, Bugaya assemblyman Jamil Hamzah asked how the money would be used, including whether it would be divided among districts or spent on urgent needs such as water, electricity and roads.
Finance Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said the grant would not be divided district by district. Instead, it would be pooled with the state’s other revenue and spent through the government’s normal budgeting process.
“The issue of distribution does not arise. It is combined with all Sabah’s revenue and is not divided among the districts. That is not how government accounting works,” he said.
