BANGI: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has emphasised that the Federal Government’s decision not to appeal the Kota Kinabalu High Court ruling on the special 40 per cent revenue allocation for Sabah is not connected to the 17th Sabah State Election (PRN17).
The Prime Minister said the government had taken appropriate action through numerous meetings chaired by himself and the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, in Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur.
“The decision was collective, reached after numerous meetings chaired by myself, as well as by the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, in Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur.
“It is not (because of the Sabah election) — we have accepted the decision. What I mean is, there are several issues related to the judgment.
“If we had not taken action or convened these meetings… I was personally chairing them,” he said.
He was responding to claims that the government’s decision not to appeal the High Court ruling on the 40 per cent special revenue allocation for Sabah was politically motivated.
Last Tuesday, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (A-GC) announced that the Federal Government would not file an appeal against the High Court decision regarding the special 40 per cent revenue allocation and would immediately begin negotiations with the Sabah State Government.
However, the A-GC also said that legal advice had been given to the Cabinet concerning defects in the High Court’s judgment.
Among other points, the judgment was said to contain serious allegations against both the Federal and Sabah State Governments, including claims that both parties had abused power and violated constitutional obligations since 1974.
Therefore, the Federal Government decided to appeal only against the defects in the judgment, without filing an appeal against the overall decision.
Earlier, Anwar officiated the 2025 International Higher Education Islamic Studies Convention at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) here today.
Also present were Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na’im Mokhtar and his deputy, Dr Zulkifli Hasan.
Also in attendance were UKM Board of Directors Chairman Prof Emeritus Dr Mohamad Abd Razak and UKM Faculty of Islamic Studies Dean Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Izhar Ariff Mohd Kashim.
The convention, organised by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) in collaboration with UKM and other higher education institutions, aims to strengthen the direction of Islamic studies based on knowledge, practice and ethics in facing the challenges of the digital age and artificial intelligence (AI).
In his speech, Anwar said that the government would return Sabah’s rights as stipulated in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), including the state’s 40 per cent revenue entitlement, without dispute.
“Sabah is right to feel that their rights under MA63 must be restored.
“So I made a simple decision, not to engage in disputes. We will return what is rightfully theirs, and we will do our best to manage the revenue without causing disruption to the country,” he said.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
