KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Government will appeal certain aspects of the grounds of judgment in the Kota Kinabalu High Court decision on Sabah’s 40% revenue entitlement, says Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
The Prime Minister said the appeal is not against the special grant itself but the High Court’s reasoning as the court’s written ruling contained statements that went beyond its legal scope.
“The first issue is that there is no appeal against the matter of the special grant. What we are appealing is the error in the judgment,” he added.
Anwar said the reasoning contained many statements that exceeded legal boundaries.
He told the Dewan Rakyat this during Minister’s Question Time on Thursday (Nov 13).
Anwar said the written judgment implied that the Federal and Sabah Governments since 1974 acted unlawfully and breached constitutional obligations.
“This means that from the time of Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn and Tun Dr Mahathir to the present, both governments were said to have acted unlawfully,” he said.
Anwar said the ruling also suggested they acted unreasonably, procedurally wrong and neglected their responsibility to Sabah.
“We believe this is not a correct statement and therefore must be appealed,” he said.
Anwar urged MPs to read the written judgment carefully.
He said the Attorney General advised the Cabinet on weaknesses in the reasoning.
“These include allegations that the Federal and state governments abused their power and violated constitutional obligations since 1974,” he said.
“Furthermore, the reasoning claimed that the review after 2021 was illegal, unreasonable, procedurally flawed and disproportionate,” added Anwar.
Anwar said the Federal Government will file an appeal against these aspects of the judgment.
On October 17, the Kota Kinabalu High Court ruled the Federal Government’s failure to pay Sabah 40% of its net revenue was unlawful.
He said this obligation is stipulated under the Federal Constitution.
The court ordered a fresh review of the 40% entitlement for each financial year from 1974 to 2021.
It said both governments must complete the review within 90 days and reach agreement within 180 days.
