MYSABAH’S discussion with Attorney-General (A-G) Mohamed Apandi Ali was “encouraging”, said Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, adding the A-G now believes Sabah may have a case on the revision of special state grants, in accordance to Article 112D of the federal constitution.

Article 112D provides for the revision of Sabah’s 40% special grant every five years.

Anifah said Apandi had promised to look into the provisions, and Anifah had requested it to be completed before the end of the month.

“I have requested to this so I could present this to the prime minister and the federal cabinet by end of February. That is the deadline. We will try to keep this deadline.

“Otherwise, I will keep following up on the matter,” he told reporters after hosting the Kimanis Parliamentary Chinese community dinner.

The event was held in conjunction with the Chinese New Year festivities.

Yesterday, several MySabah members, namely James Ligunjang and the groups’s legal adviser Tengku Fuad Ahmad, along with the Sabah rights committee chairman Teo Chee Kang and Anifah met with Apandi to discuss on Sabah rights.

“We discussed matters in detail, such as what Article 112D means. But we are talking about the deliverable items. Those that Sabah can get. The meeting was very encouraging,” he said.

The MySabah group was established and chaired by Anifah, involving leaders from various political spectrums, with the aim to look into the special rights of the state as stipulated under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and the inter-governmental report.

The two pieces of documents were crucial as they were the pre-conditions set by the then leaders of Sabah in the 60s for the formation of Malaysia.

According to Anifah, the agreement was somehow forgotten and there had been no review since 1973.

But this has changed in recent times, Anifah said, adding that more and more Sabahans aer becoming more resentful of the federal government for denying their rights.

“As leaders in Sabah, we should be the ones who should be raising the people’s grievances and bringing this to the federal level. The move was not political, and neither was this done because the general election is near. It is for Sababans today and their future generations,” he said. – February 9, 2018.