KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government should be given reasonable time to discuss the state's demand for 40 per cent of its entitled revenue, said state Finance Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.
He said this in reply to Alias Sani's (Warisan-Sekong) question on the confirmation of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's disclosure of RM10.2 billion in revenue collected by Putrajaya from Sabah.
"The negotiation process has started, so it is right to give a reasonable time to continue the talks. The issue is the difference in data. Therefore, we should discuss, exchange data, and hopefully come to a conclusion," he said.
Masidi spoke during the state assembly's question-and-answer session. He said that the differences in the amount involved could be due to the calculation methods used for revenue collection.
For example, Masidi said that Peninsular Malaysian companies operating in Sabah registered their profits outside of Sabah.
Earlier, Assistant Finance Minister Datuk Julita Majungki said that last year the Sabah government had sent eight letters to the federal government to discuss the entitled revenue claim.
"This year, we sent additional letters for the process to follow up on the issue," she said.
She added that the letters dealt with the principle of special grants, calculations and recalculations upon getting the exact data.
Julita also said that the state government was ready to discuss the issue so that payments could be made in stages based on a mutual agreement on revenues.