MA63: Decision on Sabah's 40pc revenue claim expected by September, says Fadillah
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said the Sabah government had submitted proposed solutions regarding the long-standing 40 per cent revenue claim during a special meeting of the Technical Committee under the MA63 Implementation Action Council (MTPMA63), held at Menara Kinabalu here today.
Fadillah, who also chairs the committee, said that each proposed solution would be presented to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim ahead of the next MTPMA63 meeting, scheduled for September 12 in Kuala Lumpur.
'At that meeting, we will determine the appropriate course of action, whether an interim solution or otherwise, as we must also consider the ongoing court case, filed by the Sabah Law Society, regarding the 40 per cent revenue claim,' he said.
'In legal terms, there are limitations that prevent us from finalising a solution without a decision from the court. However, what we are seeking is a resolution outside the court's jurisdiction,' he told reporters after chairing the committee meeting at Menara Kinabalu, here, today.
The meeting was also attended by Sabah Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan; and Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey said that the special meeting was productive, and that the Sabah government had submitted proposals concerning the 40 per cent revenue claim, which will be reviewed by the MTPMA63. — Bernama
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malay Mail
12 minutes ago
- Malay Mail
Rulers weigh national security, vape ban and top judicial picks at latest conference
KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 — Issues concerning national security, judicial appointments, and the proposed ban on vape were among the key topics discussed at the 269th Conference of Rulers meeting held at Istana Negara today. The Keeper of the Rulers' Seal, Tan Sri Syed Danial Syed Ahmad, in a statement, said the meeting was presided over by the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah. 'Today, the Conference received the latest briefings on national security from the Inspector-General of Police, Datuk Seri Mohd Khalid Ismail, and on national defence from the Chief of Defence Forces, General Tan Sri Mohd Nizam Jaffar,' he said. Syed Danial said that the meeting also deliberated on appointments of judges, including those to the Federal Court, Court of Appeal, and High Courts, as well as on appointments of the Chief Judges of Sabah and Sarawak High Courts, President of the Court of Appeal, and the Chief Justice of Malaysia. 'The Conference also took note of the proposal to impose a complete ban on the sale and use of vape or electronic cigarettes in the country. 'Also tabled at the meeting were legal opinions from the 126th and 127th Meetings of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs (MKI) Muzakarah Committee, along with resolutions from the 2025 Special Meeting of the Muzakarah Committee,' he said. Additionally, Syed Danial said the Conference was further briefed on the need for registration of marriages involving refugees and asylum seekers in Malaysia, as well as the Cabinet Paper regarding a centralised policy on the management of seized and forfeited assets. Present at the meeting were Raja of Perlis Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Jamalullail, Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Shah, Sultan of Kedah Al-Aminul Karim Sultan Sallehuddin Sultan Badlishah and the Yang Dipertuan Besar Negeri Sembilan Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir. Also in attendance were Tengku Mahkota of Kelantan Tengku Muhammad Fakhry Petra, Tunku Temenggong Johor Tunku Idris Iskandar Sultan Ibrahim, and Tengku Arif Bendahara Pahang Tengku Muhammad Iskandar Ri'ayatuddin Shah. Governors Tun Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar of Sarawak, Tun Dr Mohd Ali Rustam (Melaka), Tun Musa Aman (Sabah) and Tun Ramli Ngah Talib (Penang) also attended the meeting. Also present were Chief Ministers and Menteri Besar, including the representative of the Sarawak Premier. His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, graced the pre-council meeting held yesterday, also at Istana Negara. The last Conference of Rulers meeting was held on February 5, presided over by the Sultan of Kedah. — Bernama
Malay Mail
12 minutes ago
- Malay Mail
Malaysia's stock market slips as investors eye tariffs and slower rate cuts
KUALA LUMPUR, July 16 — Bursa Malaysia closed lower on Wednesday on continuous profit-taking in selected heavyweights led by the financial services and utilities sectors. At 5pm, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) fell 13.90 points or 0.91 per cent to 1,511.50 from Tuesday's close of 1,525.40 The benchmark index opened 1.63 points lower at 1,523.77 and moved between 1,510.14 and 1,526.29 throughout the session. The market breadth was negative, with 727 decliners outpacing 335 gainers and 432 counters unchanged, while 951 were untraded and eight suspended. Turnover improved to 3.18 billion shares worth RM2.44 billion, compared with 3.07 billion shares worth RM2.36 billion on Tuesday UOB Kay Hian Wealth Advisors Sdn Bhd's head of investment research Mohd Sedek Jantan said telecommunications counters led gains among FBM KLCI constituents, while consumer discretionary names bore the brunt of the sell-off. However, across the broader market, all indices closed in negative territory, reflecting the cautious mood despite recent domestic interest rate cuts, he added. 'Adding to the subdued tone, Indonesia's successful negotiation of a 19 per cent tariff rate with the United States (US) further dampened sentiment as Malaysia awaits clarity on its tariff status, currently set at 25 per cent. 'This development highlights Malaysia's diminishing competitive edge in regional trade, particularly against Vietnam and Indonesia,' he told Bernama. Mohd Sedek also said market jitters intensified over US President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on the European Union (EU) and Mexico, stoking concerns that such measures could rekindle inflationary pressures following the stronger consumer price index (CPI) readings. 'US headline CPI accelerated to 2.7 per cent year-on-year in June, up from 2.4 per cent in May, prompting investors to reassess expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts. 'A steady flow of negative tariff headlines, coupled with waning hopes for near-term monetary easing in the US, continued to weigh on risk sentiment,' he added. Among the heavyweight counters, Maybank fell 12 sen to RM9.53, Public Bank slipped three sen to RM4.23, Tenaga Nasional shed 22 sen to RM13.68, CIMB lost 13 sen to RM6.50 and IHH Healthcare dropped six sen to RM6.52. In active trade, NexG gained one sen to 48.5 sen, Zetrix AI added two sen to 95 sen, TWL inched up half-a-sen to three sen, while Green Ocean Corporation went down 1.5 sen to 11 sen and Tanco was one sen lower to 89.5 sen. On the index board, the FBM Emas Index declined 105.05 points to 11,371.03, the FBMT 100 Index sank 104.96 points to 11,132.65, and the FBM Emas Shariah Index fell 79.23 points to 11,403.95. The FBM 70 Index dropped 167.01 points to 16,521.39, while the FBM ACE Index went down 5.54 points to 4,582.08. By sector, the Financial Services Index dipped 258.89 points to 17,243.76, the Industrial Products and Services Index shaved 0.76 of a point to 152.63, and the Plantation Index eased 11.63 points to 7,406.79. The Energy Index inched down 3.25 points to 735.67. The Main Market volume retreated to 1.38 billion units worth RM2.11 billion from 1.44 billion units valued at RM2.07 billion on Tuesday. Warrant turnover rose to 1.49 billion units valued at RM213.66 million from 1.28 billion units worth RM172.45 million previously. The ACE Market volume decreased to 304.96 million units valued at RM112.71 million, versus 347.59 million units worth RM122.67 million yesterday. Consumer products and services counters accounted for 206.34 million shares traded on the Main Market; industrial products and services (201.02 million), construction (73.57 million), technology (293.92 million), SPAC (nil), financial services (88.88 million), property (206.53 million), plantation (12.92 million), REITs (21.71 million), closed-end fund (12,600), energy (78.45 million), healthcare (112.27 million), telecommunications and media (33.65 million), transportation and logistics (18.68 million), utilities (30.12 million), and business trusts (51,100). — Bernama
Malay Mail
42 minutes ago
- Malay Mail
Trump's ostensible five conditions for visiting Malaysia in October 2025 — Phar Kim Beng
JULY 16 — If diplomacy is akin to dexterous manoeuvres, then President Donald J. Trump is both the creative director and the post-modern impresario. One who demands the stage be set before he even enters the theatre that is Asean and East Asian. With the Asean and East Asian Summits scheduled for October 25 to 26 in Kuala Lumpur, speculation is mounting: will Trump show up? The answer, it seems, depends entirely on whether Asean is prepared to meet what are now widely viewed as Trump's ostensible five conditions. These demands are not just about North Korea; they reflect Trump's worldview — coercive, hierarchical, and intensely performative. One of Trump's key expectations is that Asean formally designates North Korea as a serious regional and strategic threat. He is no longer content with Asean's customary diplomatic expressions of concern. asean is too staid. He wants the language sharpened, the tone unequivocal, and the verdict clear: the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is not just a problem — it is the problem. Such a public rebuke would send a powerful message to both Pyongyang and Moscow. For Trump, this would be a strategic framing victory, reinforcing his belief that leadership means forcing clarity into ambiguity, even at the expense of consensus. Another precondition is that Asean aligns itself with US efforts to restore the relevance of the International Atomic Energy Agency in its dealings with North Korea. In a self-serving manner, Trump wants to resuscitate the IAEA's investigative clout—not in Vienna or Geneva, but in the Korean Peninsula, through Asean and East Asian Summit. Russia is, after all, a member of East Asian Summit too. As is the US. In Trump's second term, multilateralism is welcomed only when it operates under American primacy. Here, Asean is expected to echo Washington's call for full, verifiable inspections, even if it risks alienating member states who prefer the status quo of quiet diplomacy. At the heart of Trump's nuclear agenda is a warning he believes Chairman Kim Jong Un must understand that deeply buried nuclear facilities in North Korea are not beyond reach. Iran has had a foretaste of American power when in the words of Trump, "Iran nuclear facilities were obliterated." Although doubts linger if the bunker buster bombs had indeed got the job done at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan in Iran, this does not prevent Trump from wanting to deliver the same message to Chairman Kim Jong Un via ASEAN and East Asian Summit. The United States wants to reinforce the image that it continues to possess Bunker Buster Bombs capable of penetrating fortified subterranean sites. Hence, North Korea is now in the sight of Trump. Asean and East Asian Summit have to up its ante to match Trump. If diplomacy is akin to dexterous manoeuvres, then President Donald J. Trump is both the creative director and the post-modern impresario. — Reuters pic Trump views the successful prevention of open war between Israel and Iran during his second term as evidence of his coercive deterrence strategy. He does not mind showing this brand of diplomacy to North Korea via Asean and East Asian Summit. He expects Kim Jong-un to comprehend the credibility of that deterrent. In turn, Chairman Kim is likely to push back with his own narrative: that unlike Iran, which has been portrayed as a nuclear threshold or breakout state, North Korea is already a full-fledged nuclear weapons state. He will emphasise that its deterrent is real, deliverable, and not easily dismantled. The contrast with Iran — whose nuclear programme has suffered setbacks through sabotage, sanctions, and cyber interference — will form the core of North Korea's argument that it cannot and will not be treated the same. Yet Trump's expectations go beyond military strategy. He is demanding that Asean exert influence to halt North Korea's covert support for Russia's war in Ukraine. This condition stretches Asean's diplomatic imagination. For a regional bloc that prefers balancing over band wagoning, the idea of confronting Pyongyang over its links to Moscow's artillery logistics is both unprecedented and uncomfortable. Still, Trump insists that this war, fought in Europe, has reverberations in Asia — and that Asean's silence would equate to complicity. Equally important to Trump is his desire for a diplomatic spectacle: a sidebar meeting with Chairman Kim Jong-un in Kuala Lumpur; provided the latter is willing to come to Kuala Lumpur as he once did to Singapore and Hanoi. Trump views such encounters not merely as dialogues but as geopolitical theatre, validating his theory of leader-to-leader deal-making; even if they failed. The key is Trump's muscular foreign policy to match North Korea's Sparta-like approach. Kuala Lumpur or otherwise, the setting is less important than the optics. Trump believes that in bypassing conventional diplomatic channels, breakthroughs become possible. Asean's role here is to act as discreet facilitator, a stagehand behind the curtain. But even in facilitating such a meeting, Asean risks becoming complicit in a heavily personalized diplomacy that often sidelines collective norms. Especially when Malaysia is the Chief Coordinator of Asean China relations 2025. Perhaps most controversially, Trump expects Asean to ensure that its Northeast Asian partners, namely Japan and South Korea, refrain from using the summit to criticize his escalating tariff regimes. In Trump's view, the East Asia Summit is no place for complaints about American protectionism. He wants a disciplined forum — one that does not devolve into lectures on economic multilateralism. For Asean, this means managing not only its own internal cohesion but the external optics of alliance politics. The price of Trump's presence may well be the silencing of dissent, at least in public view. The art of the possible, or the price of admission? Trump's ostensible five conditions are not unachievable — but meeting all of them would require Asean to surrender elements of its foundational ethos. Non-alignment, non-interference, and regional consensus may all be strained under the weight of Trump's coercive choreography. Still, this moment also reveals how Trump views Asean: not as an equal partner in shaping global affairs, but as a pliable platform for amplifying his strategic ambitions. The stakes are not just about Trump's appearance in Kuala Lumpur, but whether Asean can uphold its role as a convenor of competing powers without becoming a stage for their rivalry. If diplomacy is truly about creative manoeuvring, then Asean's greatest test now lies not in managing Trump — but in ensuring it doesn't lose itself while doing so. * Phar Kim Beng is a professor of Asean Studies and director of the Institute of Internationalization and Asean Studies at the International Islamic University of Malaysia ** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
