He said Putrajaya is committed to resolving the claims comprehensively, including through talks under the technical committee of the MA63 Implementation Action Council, chaired by deputy prime minister Fadillah Yusof, Bernama reported.
“This is being discussed now. Fadillah chairs the technical committee; we hold meetings to deliberate.
“If we agree, we implement it; if not, we discuss again and vote. This is how we cooperate, not by ‘going to war’,” he said at the Rancakkan Madani programme here today.
Also present were communications minister Fahmi Fadzil and communications ministry secretary-general Fauzi Isa, along with more than 2,000 participants, including university students and members of the local community.
Anwar did not mention who was “going to war” over the matter, but his remarks came a day after Upko’s Ewon Benedick announced his decision to resign as the entrepreneur development and cooperatives minister.
Ewon said he made the decision in light of the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ position on the High Court case, which ruled that the federal government acted unlawfully by failing to honour Sabah’s 40% share of the state’s net federal revenue for nearly five decades.
The prime minister urged all parties to first study the issue in the case.
“I visited Jalan Gaya (Sunday Market) earlier, and people were shouting about Sabah’s 40% revenue. Listen and understand first.
“Yes, it is included in MA63, but over the past three years since the Madani government took office, we have been discussing it,” he said.
On Oct 23, Fadillah said that 13 of the 29 MA63 claims had been resolved.
Anwar, who is also finance minister, said the federal government spends RM17 billion annually on Sabah, including allocations for education, health, security and infrastructure development for the people, such as schools and clinics.
He said the amount provided to Sabah is far higher than the state’s own revenue collection, which amounts to around RM10 billion a year.
“We take the RM10 billion revenue, and we give back RM17 billion. Why? Because there is cooperation between the federal and state governments.
“We use the revenue to develop all states in Malaysia. Sabah is slightly behind, so we provide more assistance.
“We also still provide support to Kelantan and Perlis, even though they are opposition-led states.
“To solve the annual flood problems, we spend billions of ringgit there. We want everyone to live well and happily,” he said.