PETALING JAYA: There is no need for Putrajaya to wait for the Sabah government to lodge a complaint over not returning the 40% tax revenue collected from the state, a Warisan MP said.
Darell Leiking, the Penampang MP, said Maximus Ongkili can do it himself.
He said the minister in charge of Sabah and Sarawak affairs should just submit a memorandum to Cabinet over the entitlement and get them to agree to enforce it.
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“After all, Maximus previously said that Ismail Sabri Yaakob, as the prime minister, listens to Sabah.
“Why do you need to wait for the state to complain when Maximus can just do it as the minister knows that Sabah has been deprived of the full entitlement,” he told FMT.
Leiking was responding to Ongkili’s statement last night that he could only call for a meeting to discuss the issue after a complaint is lodged by the state government.
Ongkili said he “could not simply call for a meeting”.
Leiking, a former international trade and industry minister, said there was also no need for Sabah to lodge a complaint as many MPs from the state had already raised the matter in the Dewan Rakyat.
They included Warisan MPs Azis Jamman and Isnaraissah Munirah Majlis after the finance minister revealed that the Article 112C formula was no longer relevant.
Leiking was referring to Tengku Zafrul Aziz’s previous written replies in the lower house that the 40% tax formula for Sabah was no longer in use following a new agreement between Sabah and the federal government.
He said it was “impossible” for Ongkili’s ministry to be unaware that Sabah had been deprived of the actual 40% net revenue return entitlement, especially the constitutional formula which has been stated in Article 112C of the Federal Constitution.
“As a responsible Sabahan and minister, more so with a ministry in charge of Sabah, why do you need to follow the old style of governance of acting only after a complaint is lodged?
“If he believes a crime against Sabah is being committed, just act on it,” he said.
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