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Kota Kinabalu: “It appears that Sabah leaders are being hoodwinked and misled by Kuala Lumpur and are failing to stand up for Sabah’s rights and entitlement on sharing of federal revenue collected from Sabah as well as on the oil revenues from Sabah’s oil and gas” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief, in response to the reply by the Chief Minister that links the 40% entitlement to federal allocations and that there is no urgency in review of the oil revenue.
The 40% of the net revenue collected from Sabah is Sabah’s entitlement under the Tenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution and should not be confused with allocations from the Federal government. The 40% entitlement is for the use of the Sabah government at its sole discretion to meet its State needs whereas the federal allocations are decided by the federal government. It needs no reminding that the priorities of the State government for Sabah are very different from that of the federal government.
Much needed funds are required by the State government to carry out its programs for the people in Sabah and the additional funds from the 40% entitlement will not only enable the State government to perform better but also give a big boost to the State economy as well.
“As regards the issue of the amount collected, the Chief Minister was referring to collections inclusive of other federal departments and agencies like the Customs, Immigration and Road Transport whereas the RM38 billion quoted by me was based on the information given by the Sabah Director of the Inland Revenue Board which has indicated that RM40 billion was targeted to be collected from Sabah in 2013. It was not an arbitrary amount given by me” clarified Dr. Jeffrey.
In addition, the federal management and development expenditure in Sabah includes departments and agencies which overlap with and could have been performed by Sabah departments and agencies. If these federal agencies were made redundant and or abolished, there will be considerable savings on management or operational costs which could then be channeled to development expenditure for Sabah which will further boost Sabah’s economy and enhanced benefits for Sabahans.
Sabah leaders need to start changing their mindset and remember that they represent the people of Sabah and need to look after Sabah and her people. It appears that after decades of indoctrination by leaders from Kuala Lumpur, they are easily misled into forgoing Sabah’s rights and interests and failing to stand up for Sabah’s rights and entitlement.
As it is much of the wealth especially oil resources are drained from Sabah to fund development in Malaya leaving Sabahans to suffer as being the poorest and Sabah lagging far, far behind in development even in basic amenities like roads, water and electricity and medical facilities.
The federal government has failed to prioritize development in Sabah and has always been treating Sabah with contempt even today.
“Sabah contributed more than RM40 billion in revenue to the federal government and Petronas in 2012 yet the RM235 million water treatment supply project in Keningau had to be funded as a federal loan from Putrajaya. There is no reason for the federal government to demand repayment for this basic amenities project for Sabah, in the interior of Sabah and at the heartland of the parliamentary seat of our Huguan Siou, when the federal government spends billions for other water projects in Malaya” added Dr. Jeffrey.
There is an urgent need for funds to bring development and progress to Sabah. One of the other immediate source of funds for the Sabah government is through an increase in the cash payment for Sabah’s oil and gas.
A marginal increase of the cash payment from 5% to 10% will bring in an additional RM941 million to the State coffers which amounts to a 25% increase in the State revenue. There is every urgent need and justification to seek a review of the oil revenue for Sabah.
It is high time for Sabah leaders to be visionary, brave and bold and demand for Sabah’s rights and entitlement of much needed funds for Sabah’s development and progress. If not, Sabah will continue to lag behind like for the past 50 years or as better described as “IRI OM IRI” in the Dusun language.
Kerajaan Persekutuan menyediakan peruntukan sebanyak RM37.8 juta tahun ini bagi membantu 66 buah Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) dan 97 sekolah mubaligh di Sabah.
ReplyDeleteTimbalan Menteri Pendidikan Datuk Mary Yap berkata peruntukan sebanyak RM1.2 juta juga diberikan kepada dua SJKC dan tiga sekolah mubaligh di Wilayah Perekutuan Labuan.
ReplyDeleteBeliau berkata peruntukan tersebut antara lain bertujuan untuk membaik pulih, mengubah suai dan menaik taraf bangunan sekolah terutama yang dikategorikan sebagai rosak teruk mengikut skop penyelenggaraan.
ReplyDelete"Penambahan skop penyelenggaraan juga dilakukan pada tahun ini termasuk kerja-kerja pembasmian anai-anai, penambahbaikan sistem pencegahan kebakaran dan sistem kumbahan serta paip," katanya.
Pihak Berkuasa Tempatan (PBT) diminta mengambil kira identiti tempatan sebelum meluluskan sebarang cadangan pembangunan di sesebuah daerah.
ReplyDeletePembantu Menteri Kerajaan Tempatan dan Perumahan negeri Datuk Zakaria Edris berkata nilai seni perlu diketengahkan pada imej perancangan pembangunan sesebuah daerah sebelum dibangunkan.
ReplyDeleteBeliau berkata langkah itu bagi memastikan budaya dan sejarah di sesebuah daerah tidak dilupakan sebaliknya mampu terpahat dalam jiwa masyarakat khususnya kanak-kanak, remaja dan generasi akan datang.
Former Sabah Chief Minister Harris Salleh did not mention then Sabah Foundation Director, Jeffrey Kitingan, when he pontificated sanctimoniously on the so-called missing RM 4 billion, among other issues, in a tirade against former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in recent days.
ReplyDeleteHarris was apparently taking offence at Mahathir’s statement in Kota Kinabalu, at Universiti Malaysia Sabah last week that “Sabah would be the richest state soon in Malaysia in terms of natural resources”.
However, everyone in town knows that Harris was referring to Mahathir’s infamous statement that RM 4 billion was “missing” from Sabah Foundation during Jeffrey’s time. Incidentally, it was Harris himself who appointed Jeffrey as Sabah Foundation director. He continued to hold the post when his elder brother, Joseph Pairin Kitingan, became Chief Minister.
ReplyDeleteJeffrey has clarified every time the issue surfaced that the RM 4 billion allegedly missing was the difference between the spot price for timber and the long-term contract price. One cannot sign long-term contracts at spot prices. The Price Water House Audit Report on Sabah Foundation, commissioned by Mahathir, makes no mention that RM 4 billion was missing.
Undeterred, what Mahathir did was to take out his little calculator, note the difference between the spot price and contract price, multiply by the tonnage over a period of time and came up with the political statement on the so-called missing RM 4 billion.
ReplyDeleteSo, Harris was right when he alleged on Sat that Mahathir may have been making a political statement on the RM 4 billion “just to pacify and satisfy himself”, no doubt after the audit report failed to uncover any evidence of malpractices or mismanagement. Nothing ever came out of the audit report.
Jeffrey in a text message to FMT, extrapolating from the RM 4 billion, added that he was the most probed individual during Mahathir’s time. “All the government agencies, Inland Revenue Department, Anti Corruption Agency, Special Branch, were mobilized”. Apparently, the probes came up empty judging by the fact that nothing ever happened after that to Jeffrey, although his text message doesn’t make that clear.
ReplyDeleteThe talk in Sabah — “where there are no secrets” — is whatever happened to Jeffrey “stupendous wealth” even without factoring in the RM 4 billion.
There’s not even one Sabahan, dead or alive, who does not believe that Mahathir took away Jeffrey’s money, all reportedly salted away in locations overseas in numbered accounts, after detaining him under the draconian Internal Security Act (ISA) for various other reasons.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, it would be difficult to convince Sabahans that Jeffrey never had all the money attributed to him discounting the RM 4 billion, and now nowhere in evidence.
It’s an open secret that Jeffrey was engaged in various businesses as an investor and directly, but under a wide network of nominees, even while he was Sabah Foundation director.
Many of these nominees reportedly made off with sizeable portions of his money while he was under ISA detention. But none probably ripped him off to the extent that Mahathir did since it was within his (Mahathir’s) means to do so. This might partly explain a list circulating on the internet, detailing various accounts that the Mahathir family is allegedly maintaining in Israel.
ReplyDeleteOn the nominees themselves, Jeffrey does not seem to harbour any rancor against them, and many of these same people are still in business for themselves especially with the Sabah Foundation.
It would not be surprising if these people are financing Jeffrey’s politics. He can call in many favours. His State Reform Party (Star) certainly does not seem to be short of funds judging from their campaigns underway in Sabah, Sarawak and even in Peninsular Malaysia among voters from the two states. It’s the size of the war chest that seems to attract many willing to chip in and work for the party. Star leaders claim that most of the party’s funds come from contributions from ordinary people.
ReplyDeleteSabahans, putting two and two together, see a definite link between Jeffrey’s great wealth vanishing almost overnight and his detention under the ISA for two-year terms renewed twice.
Sabah, all Sabahans fume like Harris, has long been a rich state in terms of natural resources but continues to be the poorest state in the country as reported by the World Bank in Kota Kinabalu at the end of 2010.
ReplyDeleteThere are parallels between the descent of Jeffrey and Sabah into poverty, one complete, another continuing.
Again, the difference is that the former has no longer any wealth which one can milk while the latter, his country, continues to bleed to death as Putrajaya and companies in Peninsular Malaysia prey on it like “parasites, leeches and bloodsuckers”, for want of better terms.
Harris himself in his Sat statement deplored the fact that Peninsular Malaysian-owned gambling companies operating in Sabah siphon away billions every year. In the process, their unfortunate victims are forced into the clutches and claws of Ah Long, loan sharks, outsiders who have followed these gaming companies to Sabah. These loan sharks are linked to triads and seem to have forged a cosy relationship with local police to bring defaulters to heel.
ReplyDeleteIf these gaming companies were locally-owned, at least the money would remain in the state and circulate within the economy.
The Peninsular Malaysian-owned plantation companies operating in Sabah, including Felda with some 350, 000 hectares, are likewise siphoning away billions every year from the state. Many of them have somehow got their hands on vast hectares of Native land under one pretext or another judging from cases which have so far surfaced in Court.
ReplyDeleteFederal Government and Petronas procurements and contracts in Sabah also go to Peninsular Malaysian-owned companies.
The locals are left with the crumbs by way of minor sub-contracts and smalltime supplies. It seems that the so-called Bumiputera in Peninsular Malaysia can get the same status in Sabah too in defiance of the state constitution.
ReplyDeleteThen, of course, there are the age-old grievances against Petronas and the Federal Government taking 95 per cent of the oil revenue from the inner waters, 100 per cent of such revenue from the outer waters, the Badawi Government giving away Oil Blocks L and M to Brunei and keeping new discoveries in Sabah and total discovered gas and oil reserves in the state so far a highly-guarded state secret.
Jeffrey has also pointed out that of this year’s National Budget of nearly RM 200 billion, Sabah and Sarawak were allocated — not the same as releasing funds — a measly RM 4 billion each.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, according to Jeffrey on You Tube, the Federal Government collected nearly RM 40 billion last year in income tax, customs duties and other revenue alone — excluding oil and gas — from Sabah.
Hence, the war cry among Sabahans that they have been internally colonised on the revenue front besides in other areas.
IF YOU CONSIDER THAT 16 SEPTEMBER 1963 WAS THE BEGINNING OF MALAYAN IMPERIALIST ANNEXATION OF SABAH & SARAWAK THEN YOU WILL NOT SAY IT IS INTERNAL COLONISATION.
DeleteINTERNAL COLONISATION HAS TAKEN PLACE IN MALAYA BUT FOR SABAH & SARAWAK IT IS INTERNATIONAL COLONISATION!
COLONISATION BY A FOREIGN SMALL TIME IMPERIALIST MALAYA.
Ahli Dewan bersumpah untuk jujur menunaikan kewajipan sebagai Ahli Dewan, menumpahkan taat setia sebenar kepada negara dan memelihara, melindungi serta mempertahankan Perlembagaan.
ReplyDeleteItulah tiga perkara penting yang perlu dilakukan oleh Ahli Dewan Rakyat yang mulia itu.
ReplyDeleteSungguh tinggi nilai sumpah taat setia kedua-dua komponen Dewan Rakyat, Yang Dipertua dan juga semua ahli.
Deklarasi atas kejujuran kepada mandat yang dipikul dan perakuan taat setia kepada negara serta tanggungjawab menjaga dan mempertahankan Perlembagaan cukup jelas.
ReplyDeleteDengan mandat diberikan rakyat, Ahli Dewan Rakyat perlu melaksanakan tanggungjawab untuk negara, bukan hanya untuk pengundi atau penyokong parti politik yang mereka wakili. Satu lembaran baru dalam khidmat sebagai seorang wakil rakyat.
ReplyDeleteJelasnya Parlimen bukanlah institusi politik walaupun ia tidak terasing dan tidak berpisah daripada politik.
ReplyDeleteSuruhanjaya Siasatan Diraja (RCI) bagi menangani pendatang asing tanpa izin (PTI) di Sabah diberitahu Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya (SPR) sentiasa mengemaskini daftar pemilih di negeri ini.
ReplyDeleteTan Sri Shim membuat saranan itu selepas mendengar keterangan saksi, Pengarah Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN) Sabah, Ismail Ahmad di Mahkamah Tinggi Kota Kinabalu. Selesaikan masalah ini dengan segera. Kita mahukan yang terbaik kepada rakyat.
ReplyDeleteKerajaan negeri menyambut baik inisiatif dan kerjasama seumpama itu kerana selari dengan usaha untuk membanteras rasuah secara lebih berkesan dan menyeluruh.
ReplyDeletePengarah SPR Sabah, Datuk Mohamad Idrus Ismail berkata, kemaskini daftar pemilih itu dilakukan empat hingga lima kali setahun dengan kerjasama Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN).
ReplyDeleteMemberitahu demikian pada Prosiding Pendengaran RCI di Mahkamah Tinggi, Kota Kinabalu. Jadi pastikan usaha ini dapat dipertingkatkan lagi. Jangan sia-siakan usaha selama ini.
ReplyDeletePengerusi RCI, Tan Sri Shim Lip Kiong memberitahu, mekanisme itu untuk memudahkan ketetapan dibuat terhadap warga asing tersebut memperbaharui kad itu setiap 5 tahun dan tinggal di negeri ini.
ReplyDeleteKetua Menteri, Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman berkata walaupun pencapaian syarikat-syarikat tersebut amat membanggakan namun mereka perlu lebih berdaya saing dan tidak bergantung kepada kerajaan negeri dari segi kewangan.
ReplyDeletePermohonan 50 peratus hasil levi berhubung pengeluaran ‘Pas Residen’ kepada warga asing yang berada di negeri untuk tempoh 5 tahun turut diserahkan kepada kerajaan negeri. Kesemua cadangan tersebut dipersetujui kabinet negeri Sabah.
ReplyDeleteKad pengenalan sementara berwarna hijau yang mempunyai tulisan ‘Bukan Warganegara’ diberikan kepada pemegang pas sah yang dikeluarkan Jabatan Imigresen. Kad itu perlu diperbaharui selama tempoh lima tahun.
ReplyDeleteDatuk Musa turut menyaksikan penyerahan surat Ikrar Integriti Korporat, (C.I.P) yang ditandatangani 13 buah GLC di Sabah termasuk Lembaga Kemajuan Tanah, Sawit Kinabalu dan Taman Perindustrian Kota Kinabalu (KKIP).
ReplyDeleteSyarikat-syarikat Berkaitan Kerajaan (GLC) di negeri ini tidak seharusnya berpuas hati dengan pencapaian yang dikecapi, sebaliknya perlu terus meningkatkan kecekapan, ketulusan dan akauntabiliti masing-masing.
ReplyDeleteBeliau berkata, SPR juga tidak boleh mengeluarkan nama pemilih yang meninggal dunia selagi belum mendapat pengesahan daripada JPN.
ReplyDeleteIsmail Ahmad yang merupakan saksi ke-163 memberitahu sidang RCI, antara cadangan makmal berkenaan termasuk pengeluaran sijil lahir berkomputer berwarna hijau untuk warganegara dan sijil lahir berwarna merah untuk bukan warganegara.
ReplyDeleteMakmal juga bersetuju untuk tidak membenarkan campurtangan pemimpin politik, menyelaras perkahwinan membabitkan warga asing, memantau aktiviti perniagaan tukar barang dan pekerja asing tidak dibenarkan membawa ahli keluarga mereka.
ReplyDeleteKaedah itu antara cadangan yang diputuskan makmal kajian berhubung PATI di Sabah, pada Mei 2010.
ReplyDeleteSuruhanjaya Siasatan Diraja (RCI) mengenai pendatang asing tanpa izin (PATI) di Sabah hari ini mencadangkan Kementerian Dalam Negeri mewujudkan satu mekanisme pemantauan terhadap warga asing yang diberikan kad pengenalan sementara.
ReplyDeleteSaksi ke-164 itu bagaimanapun berkata, SPR tidak dapat menjamin 100 peratus daftar pemilih itu bersih sepenuhnya.
ReplyDeleteDatuk Musa menyatakan demikian pada penutupan Program Sistem Integriti Korporat Malaysia bersama GLC Sabah di Kota Kinabalu. Jadi kita harap masyarakat akan meyahut cabaran daripada kerajaan untuk membantu dalam pembangunan negeri ini.
ReplyDeleteJangan kita mudah terpedaya dengan mereka yang cuba memecahbelahkan rakyat di negara ini. Ambil contoh seperti di Mesir apa yang berlaku sekarang ini. Kita tidak mahu negara kita seperti itu.
ReplyDelete