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KOTA KINABALU: Penampang MP Datuk Darell Leiking (pic) wants to see the proposed Budget 2019 before commenting on the revenue-sharing formula with Sabah and Sarawak.
Leiking, who is International Trade and Industry Minister, said the Budget to be tabled on Nov 2 would reveal the Finance Ministry’s plans for implementing the formula.
He reiterated the federal government was still managing well despite facing serious fiscal problems inherited from the previous administration.
“I think it is going to be tough for us in the next few years, but we are managing well. The Finance Minister is doing his best through savings and reducing the cost of ongoing projects,” he told reporters after launching Sabah’s first aerospace industry seminar yesterday.
Leiking said this when asked on Lim Guan Eng’s recent statements in Parliament that the revenue-sharing formula with Sabah and Sarawak would only be implemented when the government’s finances permit it.
He said it was the government’s constitutional obligation to ensure Sabah receives two-fifths (or 40%) of its own net revenue as stipulated under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
He added that de facto law minister Datuk Liew Vui Keong had also been instructed by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to set up a committee on implementing MA63.
“The Prime Minister understands now the feelings of Sabahans on MA63 and it is good. People who fought against him before are working with him today to solve the problems of the past,” he said.
Leiking brushed aside claims that Lim was trying to postpone reimbursing Sabah its share of the federal revenue.
“We have a strong Chief Minister who knows how to deal with the government on this matter.
“On our part, we will be the spokesmen for Sabah to ensure this constitutional obligation is honoured,” he said.
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