KOTA KINABALU, Nov 12 — Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR) president Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan has accused Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) of “playing politics” over Sabah’s 40 per cent constitutional entitlement, saying their statement on the “partial appeal” was meant to confuse Sabahans ahead of the coming elections.
“I think the AGC and the Prime Minister are playing politics and not being sincere,” Jeffrey said when contacted today.
“On the one hand, he says ‘tidak akan merayu keputusan 40 peratus’ (will not appeal the 40 per cent decision), but at the same time, in the last paragraph, he says ‘kerajaan akan merayu berhubung kecacatan keputusan mahkamah’ (the government will appeal relating to defects in the court decision).
“This is merely a play of words — meant to confuse and to please Sabahans just for the election,” he said, adding that there was no sincerity in the statement.
Jeffrey said Anwar‘s recent response on the 40 per cent special grant entitlement reflected “arrogance and confusion” over the state’s constitutional rights.
He said the statements showed federal leaders continued to treat Sabah’s constitutional rights as if they were “handouts” from Putrajaya — an attitude that goes against the Federal Constitution and the Malaysia Agreement.
“The 40 per cent entitlement is not charity. It is the law,” he said.
Jeffrey said Article 112C of the Federal Constitution was unambiguous, and the entitlement should not be “negotiated or lumped together” with ordinary federal expenditure, such as for schools or hospitals.
He also agreed with former Sabah Law Society president Datuk Roger Chin’s criticism of Anwar‘s recent claim that the federal government “collected RM10 billion and spent RM17 billion” in Sabah, calling the comparison meaningless.
“Development spending is a federal duty for every state. The 40 per cent is a separate repayment owed to Sabah,” he said.
He added that records showed the federal government has been deriving more than RM50 billion in annual revenue from Sabah since 2023.
“To pretend otherwise is to insult every Sabahan taxpayer,”
Transparency is the bare minimum of good governance. Publish the data — show what was collected, what was returned, and what was withheld,” he said.
He reminded that the Kota Kinabalu High Court had already ruled that the federal government acted unlawfully by withholding Sabah’s 40 per cent entitlement, and warned that any attempt to delay or appeal the decision “would be another betrayal”.
Jeffrey also referred to the recent resignation of a key Sabah federal minister, saying it “cannot be ignored”, as it reflects internal awareness of the issue’s gravity.
