STATE land, alienated to the federal government for the building of schools, health facilities, fire stations, police camps or military bases, will have to be returned to the state if there are no indications that it would be utilised in the next three months. 

This decision, agreed on at the Malaysia Agreement 1963 Implementation Action Council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim today, applies to all states in the country even though the issue was pushed by Sarawak Premier Abang Johari Openg. 

Many of these alienated lands have been left idle for years – some going back to the 1980s. 

The prime minister said the federal government has been given three months to confirm whether proposed projects on land they had been given could be implemented.

He said that if it could not, for whatever reason, the land would have to be returned to the state at the value the land was acquired. 

The return of idle land was part of a slew of long-standing issues that were settled at the meeting. 

Anwar also agreed to Sarawak’s request for a representative to sit on the Inland Revenue Board. 

The Sarawak appointee is the State Financial Secretary Wan Lizozman Omar; his appointment is effective from today. 

Anwar described the request as “not a problem” as long as the appointee had the qualifications and experience. 

In the meeting, the federal government also agreed to allocate RM1 billion to the building of new facilities and the upgrading of existing customs, immigration, quarantine and security (CIQS) complexes along the Malaysia–Kalimantan border ahead of Indonesia completing the first phase of its new capital in Nusantara. 

He said he had given Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo, more popularly known as Jokowi, his commitment to improve the facilities, including roads leading to the CIQS on the Sabah and Sarawak sides of the border. 

The RM1 billion will reportedly be included in the 2023 national budget that will be tabled on February 24. 

The meeting also agreed that bonuses to civil servants would be exempt from tax deductions. 

The prime minister said that even though Abang Johari had pushed it for Sarawak civil servants, the decision applied to civil servants in other states as well.  

“I feel it’s reasonable. The bonus is not a big amount.” – January 20, 2023.