We’ve submitted claim for 40 per cent revenue — Masidi

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Finance Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun clarified that the State Government had in fact submitted a letter of claim for the state’s entitled 40 per cent net revenue to the Federal Government in 2022.

“We have done it when I was Second Minister of Finance, if I am not mistaken (it was) on the 10th of June 2022 and it has been acknowledged (by the federal government). If not, the federal government would not have granted the interim payment (to the state) while waiting for the final settlement.

“That is the basis of the interim payment because we are still discussing about the final figure,” he said when met by reporters after a dinner hosted by the State Government for a delegation from the Selangor government led by Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari.

Masidi said this when asked to comment on United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation president Datuk Ewon Benedick’s call on the State Government to submit a letter of demand to the Federal Government on the 40 per cent repayment of revenue derived from Sabah.

Ewon opined that the State Government must register an official demand with the Federal Government for the 40 per cent federal revenue payback to Sabah, as he believed no such official demand has been made.

“So far based on what I have checked, there may be something that was not revealed to me, but to my knowledge, the State Government has never made an official demand or register their claim,” he said.

According to Masidi, letter of claim submitted by the State Government in 2022 was also the reason why a technical committee was formed specifically on getting the data and statistics which is needed now so that the State Government can have a baseline for the calculation for the 40 per cent.

The data, he said, is needed from the various federal departments that are collecting taxes from Sabah but it has been slow in coming.

“I think what Datuk Ewon was implying is the specific amount (to be claimed), but it can only be obtained after we get all the data from the relevant agencies and that is slightly hampering the negotiations effort because we have not gotten all the data that we require,” he said.

When asked whether Ewon’s proposed mechanism included an estimated amount of money to be claimed, Masidi said it was not so much about the mechanism as the formula had always been 40 per cent of revenue derived from Sabah.

“As far as I am concerned, the mechanism is not much of an issue. The issue is when to pay. We feel the timeline for the implementation (of the repayment) is this July because I think it should not be postponed, we must get it done once and for all,” he said.

When asked what course of action the State Government will take should the matter not be resolved by July, Masidi replied, “there are options for us when the time comes.”