MP: Were Sabah rights removed during 'ghost' Parliament session?

 

PARLIAMENT | Azis Jamman (Warisan-Sepanggar) has again alleged that amendments to the Federal Constitution involving the rights and interests of the Sabah were made without following the correct procedure.

This time, he said new information uncovered appeared to indicate the amendments were made during a Dewan Rakyat session that did not actually take place.

Azis (above) has been claiming that Sabah's right to 40 percent of its own tax revenue, which was enshrined in the 1963 Malaysia Agreement (MA63), had been improperly removed.

Raising the matter as a standing order today, he said a new statute he sighted yesterday stated that the amendments signing away Sabah's revenue rights were made during a Dewan Rakyat meeting on Sept 29, 1971.

However, he said this would be impossible.

This is as, in 1971, there were no meetings in September, he said, as Parliament only convened from Feb 20 to March 19, July 5 to July 30, and Dec 8 to Dec 17 that year.

"This 1971 statute was tabled in the Dewan rakyat on Sept 29, 1971, when there were no humans in the House.

"This is the question. This involves Sabah's 40 percent (revenue) rights," he said adding that this was proof that the Federal Government had stolen Sabah's rights.

Speaker wants further explanation

However, Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun said he did not understand a single thing that was said by Azis.

He asked the Warisan MP to meet him in his chambers to explain the matter further, prompting Azis to invite de facto East Malaysia affairs minister, Maximus Ongkili, to also join in the meeting.

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun

Prior to this, on March 22, Azis was reported to have referred Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz to the Parliamentary Rights and Freedoms Committee for allegedly issuing a misleading statement on the said tax to the Dewan Rakyat.

He said Zafrul responded that the return of 40 percent of Sabah’s own net revenue collection was no longer applicable and this contradicted the statement by Maximus that the matter had not yet been discussed.

On March 18, Ongkili said Sabah held its own views on the matter which needed to be addressed at the special council meeting after the end of this parliamentary sitting.

He had also indicated that the amount to be given back to Sabah would also be decided at the special council meeting. - Mkini