Domestic trade and cost of living minister Armizan Mohd Ali will replace Ewon Benedick as Sabah’s representative in the technical committee of the MA63 Implementation Action Council following Ewon’s resignation from the Cabinet.
Ewon resigned as the entrepreneur development and cooperatives minister last week after citing the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ position on a recent High Court ruling that the federal government acted unlawfully by failing to honour Sabah’s 40% share of the state’s net federal revenue for nearly five decades.
“Moving forward, Armizan will take over from Ewon,” government spokesman Fahmi Fadzil told reporters at a post-Cabinet meeting press conference today.
In August, deputy prime minister Fadillah Yusof said 13 of the 29 demands by Sabah and Sarawak under MA63 had been resolved, with the remaining 16 still being reviewed by the technical committee, which he chairs.
Fadillah said the demands under review involved issues related to education, healthcare, oil royalties, petroleum cash payments, oil minerals and fields, the Territorial Sea Act 2012 (Act 750), as well as state rights over the continental shelf.
