Taking a dig at Leiking, SAPP president Yong Teck Lee said the Parti Warisan Sabah deputy president “now has every opportunity, influence and power to pursue the RM1 trillion debt”.
Yong said Leiking should urge the federal government to pay Sabah promptly.
At the very least, Yong said Leiking should get the federal government to commit in Parliament in the 2019 Budget session to comply fully with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“In a supposedly new Malaysia, the federal government has promised that it will comply with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and respect Sabah and Sarawak’s equal status with Malaya,” he told FMT.
He said this would mean the return of 40% of net revenue collected by the federal government in Sabah to the state government, as stipulated in the Federal Constitution.
Warisan, led by Shafie Apdal, formed an alliance with Pakatan Harapan (PH) to contest state and federal seats in Sabah in the last general election.
The allies succeeded in ousting the Barisan Nasional (BN) government in Sabah and Putrajaya, with Warisan forming a coalition state government with PH.
Some of the Warisan leaders, including Leiking, were also appointed into the federal Cabinet.
Last year, before the formation of the Warisan-PH alliance, Leiking said the RM1 trillion owed to Sabah was calculated from the share of revenue from 1963 when Sabah joined Malaya and Sarawak to form Malaysia.
The BN federal government’s previous budget failed to include the 40% special grant for Sabah even though former prime minister Najib Razak promised on several occasions to restore the rights of the people of Sabah and Sarawak.
Restoring the status of Sabah and Sarawak, as equal partners with Peninsular Malaysia in the formation of Malaysia, was one of the PH election promises.