Will the Borneo state ever get what the federal government owes it
It was painful to watch prime minister Anwar Ibrahim struggling to explain why Sabah and Sarawak are getting the lion’s share of federal money for development in next year’s budget. And perhaps for the first time, Mr Anwar alluded to his government’s financial obligation to the east Malaysian Borneo states under the Malaysia Agreement of 1963. Famously known as MA63, it sets out terms for their membership, safeguards, special privileges and autonomy in the 13-state Malaysian federation. These have already been written into the federal constitution. Yet Mr Anwar stumbled while answering questions in parliament on November 2 in a feeble attempt to pacify peninsular critics that his government is giving too much attention to east Malaysia. What has been left unsaid is the hundreds of billions of ringgit, not to mention earnings from oil and gas, that Putra Jaya has profited from Sabah and Sarawak.
So the RM6.6 billion federal fund which Sabah is getting pales into insignificance. Sabah’s attempts to get Putra Jaya to pay it the two-fifth (40%) of net revenue it is constitutionally entitled to but has been denied it for the last 60 years have not met with any significant success. Instead Mr Anwar is giving Sabah RM300 million as an “interim payment”. This is a pittance. Based on today’s prices, the 40% revenue should add up to about RM17 billion this year. He didn’t say if he would pay Sabah the arrears which would total more than a thousand billion ringgit.
Sincerity seems to be lacking in restoring at least Sabah’s rights under MA63. And Mr Anwar has procrastinated. He has promised to resolve all MA63 matters within a month after forming his unity government last December. Then in a year’s time from July 18 after he got his 12 Sabah lawmakers to withdraw a legal suit they filed in June last year against the federal government. The suit sought the return of the 40% net revenue. In parliament he told Sabah lawmakers in no uncertain terms, “… don’t expect problems that existed for decades to be solved within one year.” A promise to reveal how much money the federal government has collected from Sabah has come to nought.
Mr Anwar seems to be contemplating off-setting Sabah’s 40% net revenue with developmental spending such as the RM16 billion on Sabah’s part of the Pan Borneo highway that links the state to Sarawak, Brunei and Indonesia’s Kalimantan.
If Mr Anwar had been stronger, he would have brushed Sabah and Sarawak aside. But now he has to be seen to be accommodating to them as they, particularly Sarawak, shore up his government. Inadvertently, Mr Anwar has admitted that the federal government has all along neglected or paid little attention to east Malaysia’s development. This has resulted in the two states being the poorest despite being rich in oil and gas, timber and other natural resources.
Unabashedly Mr Anwar uttered a litany of Sabah’s long-standing problems to justify giving it more money for development – from poor water and electricity supplies to run-down schools, and roads littered with potholes. He failed to mention poor health services and internet connectivity. On the day when he proudly claimed in parliament that his government “has resolved” Sabah’s water problem, his Kapayan assemblywoman Jannie Lasimbang despatched tankers to deliver 25,000 litres of potable water to a block of flats whose taps had run dry.
But what Sabah is interested now is when can it get its hands on its rightful 40% net revenue. If a political solution isn’t forthcoming, Sabah may have to depend on the courts to decide for it. The Sabah Law Society has already filed a suit against the federal government.
Sabah Insights 