Armizan said Warisan had often criticised Barisan Nasional for keeping Putrajaya’s special grant to Sabah at RM26.7 million for about 45 years.
But when Warisan president Shafie Apdal was chief minister from 2018 to 2020, the special grant was only raised to RM53.4 million under the 2020 budget.
“This is such a small amount considering the amount was not reviewed for 45 years. This reflects Warisan’s failure to fulfill the responsibility entrusted to them by Sabahans.
“In fact, the then chief minister, Shafie, even issued a statement saying he was grateful to the government for the small increase,” he said in a Facebook video.
Armizan said Shafie’s Cabinet even agreed to accept the amount, in a letter from the state treasury to the finance ministry on Oct 18, 2019.
He dismissed Warisan’s slogan for the upcoming state election – “Save Sabah” – as nothing but emotional rhetoric, when Shafie’s party had a poor track record on regaining Sabah’s rights.
On the other hand, the Papar MP said, since GRS took over the state government in 2020, the special grant amount had been raised to RM125.6 million for 2022.
Following the formation of the unity government, this was raised further to RM300 million in 2023, RM306 million last year, and the highest ever amount of RM600 million for 2025.
“And this amount is just an interim arrangement that does not prejudice Sabah’s right to continue demanding for the full 40% formula,” he said.
“So the question is this: Is Warisan saving Sabah or do we need to ‘Save Sabah’ from Warisan?”
Armizan said Sabahans should consider the track record of the parties contesting in the state polls, given that most of them had governed Sabah at some point.
He urged Shafie to explain the basis on which his administration had accepted the RM53.4 million special grant from Putrajaya, when he had previously touted himself as having “great influence” over the then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He said Warisan even had three ministers in the federal Cabinet and should not have “chickened out” on pushing for Sabah’s rights.
He also challenged former Upko president Wilfred Madius Tangau to answer since he was in the state Cabinet as a deputy chief minister to Shafie.