KUALA LUMPUR: The claim for 40 per cent of the state's net revenue is the right of Sabahans.
Senator Datuk Anifah Aman said the Clause 112C and Schedule 10 of the Federal Constitution has stipulated that the Federal Government shall pay 40 per cent of the federal revenue collected to the state government of Sabah.
"I am grateful to the Federal Government for having already paid RM300 million to the state government of Sabah as interim payment.
"However, the implementation method of the 40 per cent payment is still being discussed and deliberated within the Technical Committee of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement.
"That is our right, with permission. Sabah and Sarawak have contributed so much to national development but the development gap between East of Malaysia and Peninsular Malaysia is so big," he said when debating the royal address at Dewan Negara.
Anifah, who is former foreign minister, said Sabah has contributed 52 per cent of the crude palm oil production in the country but was still far behind from the downstream of oil and gas.
Citing an example, should Petronas get about RM80.7 billion in profits, it should give at least RM5 billion to Sabah for development purposes.
Meanwhile, he said another initiative to fulfil the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) is to allow the Sabah government to issue manufacturing licences.
For now, investors that come with a value of RM2.5 million would require the manufacturing licensing from the federal government.
"Therefore, I would like to request that the state government approval, with permission, be increased to RM100 million so that more medium-scale investors can enter Sabah without having to go through the lengthy bureaucracy at the federal level.
"This indirectly will also help to stimulate the economy by creating job opportunities and increasing tax revenue for the Federal Government," he added.
Anifah also said that the poor basic infrastructure such as roads, water and electricity have affected the foreign investors' confidence to come into Sabah.
He added that the maintenance allocation from the federal government was insufficient, causing a backlog in maintenance works.