Chong (front, seventh left) and Phoong with the DAP Sabah supreme council leaders, delegates and observers at the 2019 DAP Sabah Annual Convention at Kian Kok Middle School yesterday.
KOTA KINABALU: The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government’s recent move to double the special grant for Sabah and Sarawak reflects its sincerity to honour the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) even though the real 40% revenue entitlements for the two states has not been finalized yet, said DAP National vice chairman Chong Chieng Jen.
Chong assured that the committees formed for the MA63 have completed its job and the report will be compiled and finalized.
“The real formula has yet to be agreed upon, but meanwhile, to show the sincerity of the federal government and also to acknowledge the injustice of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government over the past 30 over years, the Finance Minister has agreed to double the special grant with the view of further doubling it within the next five years.
“This special grant is supposed to be reviewed and increased every five years, but the last time it was done was back in 1974. Under BN, there was no review whatsoever of this special grant. They didn’t even come up with any formula to attempt to make a review of this. So, the new Pakatan Harapan government has initiated that review process.
“In the review process, of course, there are suggestions by the state government, there are suggestions by the federal government on the mechanism, how we should use this formula. It will not only affect Sabah and Sarawak, it will affect the other states as well. Because of that, there are a lot of engagements and also negotiations to be done. But, meanwhile, acknowledging this may be a learning process. Sabah and Sarawak all these years have not been granted the review and the federal government had agreed to increase it, double it. I think we have done better than Barisan Nasional.
“In 18 months we have doubled it with the promise that we are further doubling it within the next five years. So, I think this is a good start. It shows the sincerity of the PH government in honouring whatever that is provided in the MA63,” he reiterated.