KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim confirmed today that the federal government will begin formal technical negotiations on Sabah’s long-standing 40 per cent revenue entitlement on Monday, signalling what he described as a serious effort to resolve issues left outstanding under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
The prime minister said the meeting in Kota Kinabalu would bring together Treasury secretary-general Datuk Johan Mahmood Merican and Sabah state secretary Datuk Seri Safar Untong to work through “technical matters” following recent Cabinet deliberations.
“The Cabinet has discussed this several times and we agreed that on Monday, the Treasury secretary-general will be in Kota Kinabalu.
“We will discuss the technical issues on the 40 per cent with the Sabah state secretary. When? Monday — two days from now,” he reportedly said, according to Berita Harian.
Anwar, speaking at the Temu Anwar Harapan Urang Muda Sabah event at the International Technology and Commercial Centre (ITCC) in Penampang, reiterated that the government did not appeal against Sabah’s 40 per cent entitlement, and accused certain quarters — including lawyers — of deliberately misrepresenting the issue.
“We are serious. There are lawyers making noise about an appeal when we never appealed because of the 40 per cent.
“I want to stress that, as prime minister and on behalf of the Cabinet, we did not appeal against the 40 per cent — that is Sabah’s right.
“What else is there to politicise? If you want an election, go ahead. If you want to campaign, campaign.
“But don’t twist the facts like before — you were in power then and you didn’t resolve this issue either,” he added.
Anwar went on to address confusion over the government’s recent court appeal, emphasising that it relates solely to the judgment’s reasoning, which he said risked casting past administrations in an unfair light.
“What we appealed is not the 40 per cent right. What we appealed is only the part of the judgment that states governments since 1974 violated constitutional principles — unconstitutional,” he said.
“I do not want to be a prime minister who insults previous prime ministers. That is why I asked the attorney general to appeal only to correct that part.”
He added that Putrajaya remained committed to resolving Sabah’s fiscal claims “respectfully and responsibly”, and urged political actors not to turn the matter into campaign ammunition.
“We have already explained that the 40 per cent is Sabah’s right and we did not appeal. We are only correcting technical aspects of the judgment.
“There is no need to belittle former leaders who also served the country. Our focus is to resolve Sabah’s rights in an orderly and fair manner,” he reportedly said.
