Teo, flanked by Mariati and Foo, chairing the working committee meeting.
KOTA KINABALU: Minister of Special Tasks Datuk Teo Chee Kang recently chaired a meeting of the Sabah Rights Review Committee, during which the committee received a full briefing by the State Secretary Tan Sri Sukarti Wakiman on the progress of the work done by the Special Committee for Devolution of Powers.
In the meeting on November 29 last year, Teo said the committee found that the Devolution of Powers Committee led by Sukarti had deliberated and made proposals on various related issues at great length in five different aspects, namely legal, finance, planning, acquisition and implementation, administration and government policies, and enhancement of the role and functions of government agencies in the State level.
“My committee has adopted the report of the Devolution of Powers Committee except that we will add with more emphasis on the related legal and fiscal aspects, especially Sabah’s entitlement to the Special Grant under the Tenth Schedule, Part IV of the Federal Constitution.
“We maintain that by virtue of Article 112D, the five year periodical review of the Special Grant is mandatory, failing to do so is a breach of the Federal Constitution.
“Among others, we also maintain that the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has practically denied the Sabah Government from expanding the scope of State Sales Tax as doing so may amount to double taxation, although the State has such power under Tenth Schedule, Part V of the Federal Constitution.”
In view of the above, Teo said there should be a formula giving a fair share of the GST collected from Sabah back to Sabah.
Teo said the Sabah Rights Review Committee was also having a relook into the definition of the State boundary and the applicability of the Territorial Seas Act 2012 to Sabah, as this would have direct implications for the territorial powers of Sabah Government.
“A working committee was formed to study all related legal issues in detail.
“There have been two meetings respectively on December 22, 2016 and January 9, 2017. Our works are progressing well,” he said in a press statement issued yesterday.
To gather more views on Sabah rights, the committee is organizing hearing sessions for political parties including opposition parties in Sabah at Rafflesia Room, Dewan Undangan Negeri Sabah on January 26, 2017.
Invitations are being issued to political parties to the said hearing. They are requested to file their outline submission to Pejabat Menteri Tugas-Tugas Khas, Tingkat 16, Wisma Innoprise, Jalan Sulaman, 88817 Kota Kinabalu by 24 January 2017.
Sabah Rights Review Committee, chaired by Teo, comprises Sukarti, State Attorney General Datuk Hajah Mariati Robert, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Finance Datuk Pg Hassanel bin Datuk Pg Haji Mohd Tahir, Sabah State Economic Planning Unit (UPEN) director Datuk Haji Osman Jamal, State Treasurer Chui Nget Ngo, Senator Datuk Haji Kadzim bin Haji M Yahya, Institute for Development Studies (Sabah) chairman Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Clarence Bongkos Malakun, former State Attorney General Datuk Stephen Foo Kiat Shin and Sabah Law Association immediate past president Datuk G.B.B. Nandy @ Gaanesh.
Meanwhile, members of the working committee are Teo, Mariati, Kadzim, Clarence, Foo, Gaanesh, Tan Sri Abdul Gani bin Patail, Haji Ansari Abdullah, Roland Cheng Ho Wah and Tengku Fuad Ahmad.