KOTA KINABALU, Sept 12 — The federal government has doubled the RM300 million interim allocation for Sabah and Sarawak as they continue negotiations to resolve outstanding state rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said this was one of the key outcomes of today’s meeting of the Majlis Tindakan Perlaksanaan Perjanjian Malaysia 1963 (MTPMA63).

"The new amount will begin next year. The decision was initially planned for the budget tabling, but the prime minister decided to announce it earlier,” he said.

"This interim payment is due to be reviewed every five years, but the prime minister decided to increase it now,” he added.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim increased the interim payment last year from RM125.6 million to RM300 million as the federal and two state governments continue negotiations on certain issues where they are not in agreement.

Payments were kept at RM26.7 million until 2021 without any mandatory five-year review until the federal government under Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri increased it to RM125.6 million in 2022.

"Because this is only an interim payment, we will accept it with an open heart. We still need to find a way to come out with the right formula.

"It’s up to them how to spend it but the important thing is that it is an increase,” he said.

When asked about the 40 per cent, he said it would be subjudiced for him to comment on the matter publicly as it is in legal dispute.

Fadillah said that certain issues could not be resolved at the technical committee level, and had to be discussed at a higher level between the prime minister, the Sabah chief minister and the Sarawak premier.

The issues include maritime borders of the Territorial Sea Act, oil royalty, stamp duty and the increase of Sabah and Sarawak’s share of parliament seats.

"Many of these involve differing interpretations such as stamp duty based on land transactions versus an instrument, which is how the Federal government looks at it,” he said.