Before the Budget announcement Jeffrey Kitingan, Bingkor State Assemblyman, was reported asking; “will Budget 2017 see the return of the 40% Net Revenue Entitlement and other additional revenues assigned to Sabah and agreed in the formation of Malaysia in 1963 and entrenched in the Federal Constitution?” On Friday, the answer was unequivocal: But the increasingly vocal demands based on the notion of “state rights” is not going away anytime despite the use of the Sedition Act. Some 11 of the over 400 sedition cases from 2010 till this year relate to talk of Sabah and Sarawak in the Federation.
Today we explore the Budget 2017 from Sabah’s perspective.
This is a report by Sharaad Kuttan.