KOTA KINABALU: Those who champion the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and its related matters for political agenda are advised to be extra careful with facts so as not to confuse the people, especially younger generations.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs and Special Duties) Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali said those who argue the issue by sharing wrong information to the public could create misunderstanding and must be responsible for such wrongdoing.
He cited Parti Warisan Information Chief Datuk Datuk Azis Jamman who claimed that the first revision of the Government Gazette of the special grant in 1970 was invalid as it was not presented to Parliament.
“Whatever his (Azis) motive, the statement by him is false and misleading the people especially in Sabah.
“As a former Federal Deputy Minister and former Member of Parliament, he should be more careful and responsible before making any statements, not to mention national institutions, especially the monarchy and Parliament,” he said, after attending an interaction session with Sabah Students Consultative Council from various higher institutions on Thursday.
“I was asked about the former Sepanggar MP who questioned the validity of the special grant gazette 1970 which, he claimed, was not tabled in Parliament.
“What he said was untrue and false information. In fact, the Sabah Special Grant Law Order (First Review) under Clause (1) Article 112D of the Federal Constitution existed and was approved by the Agong and gazetted on Sept 17, 1970.
“Second, the Government Gazette was presented (laid) in the Parliament on Dec 8, 1971 as the Statute Paper 216 of 1971. This can be checked in the Parliament Record and the Meeting’s Order of Business on Dec 8, 1971 which has listed the Law Order as one of message that was brought into the Meeting on the day in question.
“Thirdly, this answers the question that Parliament was not in session at that time due to the post state of emergency of the 13 May 1969 incident,” he said.
For information, Armizan said although the state of emergency was declared on May 15, 1969, Parliament began sitting for the first time, after the election, on Feb 23, 1971 and the Special Grant Gazette was approved by the Agong and laid in Parliament on Dec 8, 1971.
“Information related to these facts can be checked through various open sources accessible to the public.
“These simple facts can be obtained if Parti Warisan Information Chief had a sense of responsibility to make a review including checking the facts in the wikipedia as reference,” he said.
“Bringing our arguments to the Federal Government need to be based on evidence and the right legal basis to ensure the validity of our demands, thus bringing beneficial results.
“The people of Sabah need an ‘outcome’ in the form of benefits and not just the ‘output’ of political rhetoric and historical romanticism, not to mention that it is embroidered with wrong facts,” he said.
Based on the Gazette, he said it is correct that the review on the special grant must be once in every five years but as long as there is a written agreement between Federal and State Governments which did not set any time for review, then the (special grant) rate can be increased although it has been gazetted.Armizan said the second review on the annual Special Grant Gazette was made last year (the result of GRS’s efforts in 2022) and the third review was this year when the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced the total interim settlement rate of RM125 million per year for Sabah is increased to RM300 million this year.
Next year, he said the rate would be increased and there would be new gazette (review on the special grant for Sabah) provided that the nation’s economic growth is good and positive.
This is because, he said there is a written agreement on the interim solution which clearly states that there is no prejudice for Sabah to claim its rights to continue pursuing the two-fifth or 40 per cent as contained in Part 4 of the 10th Schedule of the Federal Constitution to negotiate with the Federal government to increase the interim rate for Sabah.
Armizan added that there is also no prejudice on Sabah rights to claim for the arrears (of the review on the special grant) or the loss years that were not reviewed.
He said the letter of agreement remains in the agenda of the Implementation Action Council of the MA63.On why there were no reviews in past years, he said the leaders who were the Federal Ministers and held Chief Minister’s post should be the one to answer.
— Hayati Dzulkifli
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