PENAMPANG (May 29): The Sabah government will formally submit a claim to the federal government for the return of 40% of the state's net revenue, based on the Federal Constitution and the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said the demand will be brought to the next state Cabinet meeting to be reviewed and approved before being brought to the federal government.

"It is to enable the facts, basis and amount to be submitted to the MA63 Technical Committee for review by the federal government. We hope there will be a decision before or on July 18," he said at a press conference in conjunction with the Kaamatan Festival at the Kadazandusun Cultural Association (KDCA) here Wednesday.

In July last year, the MA63 Technical Committee meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof decided that settlement of the claim for 40% of Sabah's net revenue or special grant is expected to be achieved within a year.

Jeffrey, who is also the state minister of agriculture, fisheries and food industry, however, said that despite the one-year deadline on July 18 for the resolution of the issue, there have been issues that have not been resolved until now.

Jeffrey, who attended the committee's meeting recently, said in the meeting, Sabah had explained its position and previously requested related data eight times, without a response from the federal government.

"We have been asking for the data, officially from (federal government) because we don't have the data. They collected (data) but didn't tell us, so we want to know from them. Since they don't give, we take the initiative now to do it (claim to federal government)," Jeffrey said.