KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Pakatan Harapan lawmakers will maintain their suit against the Federal Government to regain Sabah's 40% revenue rights under the Federal Constitution.
Sabah Pakatan's Upko president Datuk Ewon Benedick said there was no change in their stand over the suit which was filed at the Kota Kinabalu High Court on June 3, last year even though they are now part of the state and federal governments.
Ewon, who is federal Entrepreneurs Development and Cooperatives Minister, said on Sunday (July 16) that the legal process will continue.
"Currently, the action of claiming Sabah's rights through the court process is still being continued by all the plaintiffs (12 Sabah Pakatan lawmakers).
"We have also taken into account that there is another similar court proceeding for the same issue taken up by the Sabah Law Society (SLS).
"What I can say so far, it (the case by Sabah Pakatan) is still being continued by the plaintiffs," he told reporters after his ministry's state-level launch of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Week by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, who represented the Sabah Chief Minister.
Ewon said the court action was part of many available channels and platforms being used to claim Sabah's constitutional rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
The platforms, he said, includes legislation, Cabinet, Parliament and special committees.
"I have been officially appointed as a member of the Sabah and Sarawak Special Council chaired by the Prime Minister. It is composed of the Sarawak Premier and Sabah Chief Minister as well as the secretariat minister to discuss the rights of Sabah according to the Federal Constitution.
"In the federal Cabinet, I have spoken about Sabah's rights. So with this new platform, I will continue the demands of the people of Sabah, the demands of my party and our Pakatan alliance.
"What we are fighting for through the court process will also be discussed in this new platform, which is the Sabah and Sarawak Special Council.
"I will use all my strength through all platforms that allow me to claim Sabah's rights according to the Federal Constitution," he said.
"This issue (the claim for 40% of the federal revenue in Sabah) has been going on for a long time, since before I was born until I am here today. So I think all available platforms can be used to claim Sabah's rights according to the Constitution," he added.
In the Pakatan suit by their 12 MPs and assemblymen, they are seeking, among others, a declaration that Sabah is entitled to 40% of revenue derived by the Federal Government from the state annually to be "respected and delivered" as stated in the Federal Constitution.
They were seeking a declaration of the state's 40% revenue rights under Article 112C and Section 2(1) of Part IV of the Tenth Schedule of the Federal Constitution that "still applied and (is) enforceable".
Apart from Ewon, the others who filed the suit include Sabah Pakatan chairman Datuk Christina Liew, former Upko president Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau (Tuaran MP), and Sabah DAP chairman Datuk Frankie Poon (Tanjung Papat assemblyman).
Talk among political circles in Sabah was that the suit was not tenable as the state Pakatan leaders were now part of the federal and state governments.
The political circles explained that it was becoming "tricky" for the federal Attorney General to defend a government case that involved plaintiffs that included a Cabinet minister.
