The Malaysian Insight

MAXIMUS Ongkili dared Pakatan Harapan to implement the 40% revenue rights and oil royalty pledges, saying he had noted many of its leaders talked about how they had saved the country from financial ruin.

The Parti Bersatu Sabah president was referring to the DAP leaders’ claims about how PH reduced the federal government’s financial burdens, trying to recover all the 1MDB monies and negotiated with China to reduce the loans.

“If they are truly sincere, why don’t they just implement and give what is due to Sabah as stipulated in the federal constitution.

“Whatever is in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 can be discussed later,” he told The Malaysian Insight during the ongoing Sandakan by-election today.

The Kota Marudu MP said the 40% of the revenue and the oil royalty have been a long-standing issue and that Sabah is burdened by the lack of infrastructure development and poverty rate, which is among the highest in the country.

“This is about bread-and-butter issues. Look at Sandakan itself, places like Sg Anip, Pulau Berhala and Kg Sim Sim, the folks there are doing much worse than those in my constituency, Kota Marudu.

“The people there are poor and backward and their livelihood is not much better than the folks in Kota Marudu, although they are so close to Sandakan town.”

The 40% revenue rights and 20% oil royalty rights as in the federal constitution are among PH’s election pledges.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said Putrajaya does not have enough funds to pay for the revenues due to country’s financial problems.

But Putrajaya is getting a one-off payment of RM30 billion from Petronas, Ongkili said. – May 7, 2019.