PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has urged the opposition not to politicise the issue of allocations to Sabah.
He said the opposition only seems to be raising this issue because the Sabah state elections are approaching.
The legislative assembly’s term ends in September next year.
"Don’t politicise this matter. If you want (more allocations), discuss it properly," he said to reporters after visiting the Tanglin hawker centre in Kuala Lumpur today.
On May 31, Anwar announced that the allocation had been increased to RM16 billion this year, up from RM12.9 billion in 2022, and RM13.9 billion disbursed by the federal government last year.
He said it exceeded 40% of the federal revenue and taxes collected from Sabah.
On Aug 4, he dismissed claims that he had lied about the allocation for Sabah.
He said the RM16 billion was the total allocation for Sabah this year, covering various expenses, including schools, education, border security, and development.
However, Bersatu leader Ronald Kiandee was reported to have said yesterday that Anwar failed to consider that Sabah was entitled to an additional 40% of federal revenue and taxes collected from the state.
The Beluran MP said this would be about RM4 billion, based on Anwar’s announcement that the federal government collected RM10.2 billion in taxes and revenue from Sabah last year.
However, Anwar told the opposition they did not champion the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) while they were in power.
"Now we (the unity government) are discussing, implementing as much as we can … issues of education, health (and) additional allocations, all are being addressed now," he said.
"I want to ask, what did they do when they were in power?"
