SANDAKAN – In a surprising turn of events in Sabah’s ongoing battle for the 40% grant revenue, the state government appears to have backed down from contesting the Sabah Law Society’s (SLS) position in the suit against Putrajaya.
State Attorney-General Datuk Nor Asiah Mohd Yusof said today that the state government had withdrawn all submissions previously made by lawyer Datuk Tengku Fuad Tengku Ahmad at the Court of Appeal in Kota Kinabalu on May 16.
She added that the Court of Appeal had been duly informed of this decision, clarifying that the Sabah government had withdrawn all arguments concerning the “locus standi” of the SLS, as these were neither raised nor presented in the high court by the state government.
The Sabah government also retracted the submission referring to Articles 112C and 112D of the Federal Constitution as “an aspiration” and not a mandatory or absolute right of the state of Sabah, she said.
Since the state government did not challenge the high court’s decision on November 11, 2022, to allow the judicial review by the SLS, it accepted the outcome as granted, she added.
The high court then granted permission for the issue to be discussed on its merits during the substantive hearing of the judicial review application.
However, Nor Asiah did not address whether this clarification implied that the Sabah government had withdrawn its submission to intervene in the federal government’s appeal against the high court’s decision in 2022 to allow the judicial review by SLS.
The Court of Appeal had recorded the Sabah government’s positions and had fixed June 18 to deliver a decision on the matter.
Nor Asiah also said that she had represented the Sabah government alongside the special legal advisor to the chief minister, Datuk Brenndon Keith Soh, as well as state government counsels Devina Teo and Roland Alik.
She also said the state AGC had fully taken over from state-appointed legal counsel Fuad’s law firm, Messrs F.T. Ahmad & Co, in representing the state government’s intervention in the 40% revenue legal challenge at the Court of Appeal.
It was reported that the Sabah AG’s Chambers officially took over the case from Fuad’s law firm on May 21.
Nor Asiah also reaffirmed the unwavering commitment of the state AGC to uphold Sabah’s constitutional rights as outlined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and the Federal Constitution.
In recent days, the Sabah government has faced criticism regarding Fuad’s court submission on May 16, specifically concerning his use of the term “aspiration” to describe the 40% special grant.
This choice of word was perceived as indicative of a lack of determination by the Sabah government to advocate for the state’s rights.
Nor Asiah also faced criticism and was asked to resign after Fuad contradicted the state government’s stand.
Today, the Court of Appeal conducted a case management for the federal attorney-general’s appeal against the high court’s decision to grant leave to the SLS for the substantive hearing of its judicial review application regarding the 40% special grant entitlement of Sabah.
It was reported that the SLS filed the judicial review application in 2022 to overturn the gazetting by the federal government of a RM125.6 million annual grant for Sabah, claiming that it violated the state’s revenue rights under MA63.
The Kota Kinabalu High Court, on November 11, 2022, approved the SLS request for permission, affirming the state bar’s standing to pursue judicial review due to the case’s public interest nature.
Following this decision, the federal government appealed against it, and the federal AGC secured a stay order, halting the high court from proceeding with the case’s merits pending the appeal. – May 24, 2024