Deputy Chief Minister cum Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Industry Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Jeffrey G. Kitingan and Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick visiting the exhibition stalls.
KOTA KINABALU (July 16): Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sabah representatives have agreed to proceed with the preliminary summons they filed in June 2022 against the Malaysian and Sabah governments regarding the claim for 40 percent of state revenue.
United Progressive Kinabalu Organization (UPKO) president Datuk Ewon Benedick in confirming this, said that all channels and platforms available will be used to demand Sabah’s rights according to the constitution.
He said these platforms include legislation, the cabinet, parliament and special committees.
“I have been officially appointed as a member of the Sabah and Sarawak Special Council, chaired by the Prime Minister and joined by the Sarawak Premier and the Chief Minister of Sabah, as well as the secretariat minister, to discuss the rights of Sabah according to the Federal Constitution.
“In the Federal Cabinet, I have voiced concerns about Sabah’s rights. So, with this new platform, I will continue to pursue the demands of the people of Sabah, the demands of my party, and the demands of my coalition so that what we fight for through the court process will also be discussed in this new platform given to me, namely the Sabah and Sarawak Special Council. I will utilize all available platforms to demand Sabah’s rights according to the Federal Constitution,” he said.
Ewon who is Penampang Member of Parliament, said this when asked if the PH Sabah representatives would proceed or withdraw the suit on July 31, which the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak has set for the hearing of the preliminary summons.
It was reported in early July that the new date came after the court in Kota Kinabalu allowed the plaintiff (PH Sabah) and the defendants (the Malaysian government and the Sabah government) to negotiate on several claims related to the 40 per cent state revenue collected by the Federal Government.
Nelson W. Angang, the lawyer representing the plaintiff, informed Utusan Malaysia that on that date, they will inform the court whether they will proceed with or withdraw the summons after negotiations with both defendants.
“We want to settle this negotiation with the government first, so if we succeed, and if the negotiation fulfils what we demand, then we will consider whether to proceed with this summons or not.
“This negotiation is still ongoing with the Minister of Sabah, Sarawak, and Special Tasks, Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali, as he is involved in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) Technical Committee.
“We need to see first if this negotiation will be successful and mutually agreed upon,” Nelson was quoted as saying.
Ewon, who is also the Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives said, “at the moment, the action to claim Sabah’s rights through the court process is still ongoing by all the plaintiffs.
“We also take into account that another court proceeding on the same issue has been initiated by the Sabah Law Society. Therefore, based on the current situation, I can say that it is still being pursued by the plaintiffs.
“This issue of claiming the 40 per cent federal revenue rights in Sabah has been going on for a long time, even before I was born until today. So I believe that all the platforms available can be used to demand Sabah’s rights according to the constitution,” he said.
“For the time being we agreed to proceed with the case unless somebody wants to withdraw, which I don’t think so but we never know. In our attempts to resolve this issue we have many platforms so why not use all of them and this is what I will do as the representative of the people of Sabah,” he stressed.
Ewon said this when met by reporters at the closing of ‘Minggu Perusahaan Mikro, Kecil dan Sederhana Peringkat Zon Sabah’ here on Sunday.
Last year, 12 PH Sabah MPs and assemblymen filed a claim in the High Court here seeking a declaration on Sabah’s entitlement to a 40 per cent share of Federal revenue.
They are seeking, among others, a declaration that Sabah is entitled to 40 per cent of revenue derived by the Federal Government from the state annually to be “respected and delivered” as stated in the Constitution.
Their lawyer, Nelson, said they were seeking a declaration of the state’s 40 per cent revenue rights under Article 112C and Section 2(1) of Part IV of the Tenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution that “still applied and (is) enforceable.”
In their originating summons filed on June 3 2022 against the government of Malaysia and the government of Sabah, they also sought for Putrajaya to disclose to the state government the amount of net revenue it derived from Sabah annually.
Among those who filed the summons were Ewon, Kota Kinabalu Member of Parliament Chan Foong Hin (Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Security); Api-Api State Assemblyperson, Datuk Christina Liew (Minister of Tourism, Culture, and Environment of Sabah), and Luyang State Assemblyman Phoong Jin Zhe (Minister of Industrial Development of Sabah).