Anifah (centre) with the panelists that included, Bumburing, Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, Datuk Yong Teck Lee, senior politician Ansari Abdullah and Dr James Alin.
KOTA KINABALU: If the Federal Government cannot accord to Sabah and Sarawak 20 per cent in oil and gas royalty, then it should give the two states what is stipulated in the Constitution.
Former Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman when asked to comment on the matter, said that it is stated in the Constitution that Sabah and Sarawak gets 10 per cent royalty from oil and gas produced in the country.
“In the Constitution is only 10 per cent, we requested 20 per cent but if they say it is not possible, in so far as I am concerned, give us what is stipulated in the Constitution,” he said when met here yesterday.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was reported last week as saying that to raise the oil royalty to Sabah and Sarawak which was promised in the Pakatan Harapan election manifesto was not workable.
The prime minister said in a Bernama report from New York that the government now realised that giving 20 per cent to the two states would mean that Petronas would no longer become the international oil company that it was.
On Sept 13, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng had hinted that the long standing wish of the two states to raise the oil royalty from five per cent to 20 per cent might not materialise.
He said legacy issues from the previous government were preventing the implementation of promises under the PH manifesto, especially the oil royalty for Sabah and Sarawak.
On the 40 per cent revenue to Sabah, Anifah was of the opinon that the Federal Government cannot deny the state on the matter.
“You cannot just say ‘Oh we don’t have money’ and that’s it,” he said.
Speaking to reporters at a discourse on ‘Perpaduan Politik Demi Kepentingan Rakyat Sabah’, Anifah stressed on the importance for Sabahans to be united in order for their voices to be heard by the federal administration.
“This is why I am saying we have to speak with one voice because they do not have ears for you if you are just isolated. We have to be united and I stress that even if we are united we may not achieve (our goals) but if you don’t… we have to start somewhere,” he said.
Anifah pointed out that to achieve unity, Sabahans must put aside divisive factors such as race, religion and political beliefs.
“Forget that you are a Sino, or Dusun or Kadazan or any other race, put that aside, these are the divisive factors which they applied on us. Look at each other as Sabahans. This is your state as much as mine. Our children and grandchildren will be here. So why practice that divisive factors? And if each and everyone is saying ‘your interest is my interest’ and you put politics, religion, ethnicity aside, we have a common goal, that is to save Sabah.
“This is what the meeting today is about. In 2008, I said what is the use of living in a big house when your room is in the toilet? But I was just saying it alone, now I am calling on everyone, let’s say it together, no more whispers but we create a roar, let’s see what the federal government will do,” said Anifah.
He however stressed that doing this does not mean that Sabahans are against the federal government.
“We have to work with them but they have to be fair to us,” he said.
Anifah added, “So let’s work together not only internally but also with Sarawak. Not because we want to go against the federal government but we just want what is rightfully ours.”
More than 300 people from different political divide attended the discourse organised by MySabah here yesterday.
Host Anifah told reporters that the event was a meeting between like-minded friends in Sabah.
“As Sabahans, they are worried about the situation we are in now and that can change the political landscape of Sabah. Some of them were saying that the worry is greater every year and what they were saying was there was this reverse takeover. That we may lose our state in a true democratic process,” he said.
He pointed out that one of the issues discussed was about the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah.
The topic was presented by Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Bumburing, said Anifah adding, “we are not trying to deny as Bumburing said, the rights to issue citizenship but they have to follow the procedures and the law of the country.
“Whether it is in terms of security, whether it will pose a problem to the state and therefore to the people as a whole. So this meeting, we are saying, look we are not against the Federal or the state government. I stated in my speech that for common interest, like MA63 we will support the state government.
“And to solve the problem of illegal immigrants, we will support the efforts of both the federal and state governments, if it is for the best interest of the state, people and country.
“But we cannot leave it alone, what will happen to our children? They may have a country named Malaysia but not a state anymore. This is the worry that one day, if we do not solve this problem, our children will be immigrants in their own homeland,” he stressed.
Anifah added, “You may laugh now, you said it is impossible for this to happen but there are a lot of things which we said are impossible before is happening now.”
He stressed that while it is not possible for Sabah and Sarawak to form the central government because we only have 57 parliamentary, they want to work with the federal government to find solutions to the problems that the states are experiencing now.
“That is all but we want them to listen to us. What I am saying, promises after promises, they never really fulfill their promises. It is very hurtful and Lim Guan Eng before the election had promised a lot of things after that he just brushed it aside and said ‘we don’t have money’.
“Why promise in the first place? (This is) Cheating the people of Sabah and they did not feel slightly guilty after giving the promises which Sabahans are expecting,” he lamented.