How do we have fair elections in Malaysia?

13Friday

JK's Digest No. 11 of April 2007 (70 of 2007) How do we have fair elections in Malaysia?

The following are examples of the bias elections as per N13 Likas 1999 Election Court proceedings and other press reports.
Areas of concerned - corruptions and money politics; faulty electoral rolls with project IC holders as voters always denied until 1999; now the Police Report lodged on rigged elections in 2004 nationwide. go there http://malaysian-elections-2004.blogspot.com/
So it is illegal Government of illegal people, by illegal people and for illegal people.

ILLEGAL Governments - state and federal must go. The prevailing bias elections would go on with the BN Government under the hegemony of UMNO.
You may not realise that it is some of the people involved with Project IC and Project M now exposing themselves to resolve the dubious people. Harris was one of those involved and it was him and Dr Chong who brought the N13 Likas 1999 where a ballot paper was also exposed (cat out of the bag) to the Election Courts. Others like Hassnar, Jabar, Sabu and several others are also coming out to tell the world. When would Musa Aman and Tun Mahathir and many others named by Jabar say their pieces? go there http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/corridors.php?itemid=3623 (pt5)

Joshua Kong (proponent of MIGS and WON)
http://mega-icc-group-sabah-migs.blogspot.com/ http://won-borneo.blogspot.com/
Latest Book: Biodiversity Challenge-Haze Health Hell ISBN983-2653-24-XAuthor of New Wealth Order, EPIC of Sabah, FIRE, Sabah Wealth - image of woods power,
EPIC of Sabah - 2nd Edition, Paper to Parliamentary Select Committee on Unity and National Service.
EPIC of Sabah - 3rd Ed., WATER, A tussle in biodiversity of two liquids - palm oil and water,
Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia in 1963, A Paper to Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity (2006). Books to come:- A critical review- claim on Sabah and A case of Independence for Sabah - pros and cons.
http://www.e-borneo.com/col/jkong/
N13-1 `Foreigners voted for BN' claim
DE 29-9-99
KOTA KINABALU: The electoral rolls used in the March Sabah election were prepared illegally to the extent that they contained the names of non eligible voters.
The Election Commission also did not expunge the names of these illegal voters from the rolls despite objections from Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), its defeated candidate Dr Chong Eng Leong told the High Court Tuesday.
Such corrupt practice affected the Likas results, Dr Chong told Kuching-based High Court Judge Datuk Muhammad Kamil Awang.
Dr Chong was testifying at the consolidation hearing of the election petitions filed by him and former Chief Minister Datuk Harris Salleh, seeking to declare null and void the election result of Likas won by another former Chief Minister, Datuk Yong Teck Lee under the BN ticket.
SAPP is a component of the ruling BN coalition. Harris who testified Monday was the former acting president of Parti Bersekutu. Yong retained the Likas seat with a 4,962-vote majority against Harris, Chong and two others.
Dr Chong contended that the way in which the Election Commission processed the electoral rolls was biased as PBS' objections totalling 4,585 were not entertained at all.
The Commission also rejected PBS' appeal on the matter, Dr Chong said to a question by counsel Yunof Maringking.
Objections such as the existence of the names of non Malaysians or the transfer of voters' names from one constituency to another were also not entertained.
He said there were 21 non eligible voters listed in the rolls and 20 appeared in rolls for Likas while another name appeared in the rolls for Elopura.
He said one of the 20 names in Likas was that of Irmah Bte Pantiu, a woman born in Indonesia but holding Malaysian Identity Card bearing serial number 0557394.
The woman's name should not have appeared in the rolls because her nationality was doubtful.
The name of one Yaakob Saadon residing in Pulau Gaya and holding Malaysian IC bearing serial number 0554976 appeared in the electoral rolls for Elopura, Dr Chong said, adding Yaakob's name should not be listed because the National Registration Department had no record of such IC number.
Dr Chong also told the court that BN had prepared some 3,972 outsiders to vote in Likas.
He said this figure was contained in a letter written by Sabah Umno Information Chief Datuk Karim Ghani to all chief of special function staffs of every Umno division in the State.
The contents of the letter stated that the chiefs had to ensure that the outsiders would vote at designated constituencies during polling day because they are 100 per cent BN voters.
Hence, there were no less than 54,000 outside voters taking part in the recent election casting ballots at some 31 constituencies in which BN retained power after winning 31 seats.
The court was also told that Umno has involved in issuing Malaysian ICs to foreigners to enable them to register as voters so that they can take part in the State election.
In return for obtaining the ICs, the foreigners had to vote for the BN.
Dr Chong also told the court that some senior Umno members in the State were detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for their involvement in an IC falsification syndicate.
They included Tawau Umno Deputy Chief Shamsul Alang, Datu Akjan, Jabar Khan and Dandy Pilo, among others. Some NRD officers and businessmen were also detained under the ISA for their part in the syndicate.
Dr Chong said several Umno members in the State had been convicted in the courts for committing offences pertaining to IC falsification syndicate.
According to Dr Chong, he believed Umno still continued giving Malaysian ICs to foreigners so that they can be registered as voters.
Dr Chong also said Yong had made a statement that there are some 500,000 illegal immigrants residing in Sabah and those foreigners obtained blue Malaysian ICs and had become voters.
Yong made the statement while attending a seminar held in Kuala Lumpur in 1992. He was then Sabah Deputy Chief Minister in the PBS Government.
However, then Deputy Home Minister Datuk Megat Junit Megat Ayub refuted the statement and said only 20,000 genuine ICs had fallen into the hands of people suspected to be foreigners.
Dr Chong said these statements were contradictory.
He said he had also written to the NRD Director requesting the latter to check whether the Malaysian ICs held by 4,197 electorates residing in Likas who were believed to be foreigners were genuine or otherwise.
He added that in the letter he also requested the NRD Director to furnish details such as whether these persons obtained the ICs through the proper channel.
However, the Director failed to reply.
Dr Chong said he also requested in writing for the Director to come to court to give testimony but he did not turn up in court on Monday of Tuesday.
Maringking said the Director might have been influenced by certain quarters not to come to court.
At this juncture Senior Federal Counsel Abu Bakar Jais representing the Sabah Election Commission Officer and the returning officer in Dr Chong's petition stood up and reminded Maringking not to make such comments.
Maringking replied by offering the Director as witness for the respondents.
Dr Chong, 54, named Yong, the Sabah Election Commission Officer and the returning officer as the respondents in his petition.
Counsels PK Lim and John Sikayun represent Yong in Dr Chong's petition.
Harris named Yong and the other losing candidates in Likas as the respondents in his petition. Counsel Alex Decena represent Yong in Harris' petition. Hearing continues.


to be cont'd

13Friday

N13-2. Names of dubious voters transferred instead: Witness
DE 30-9-99

- Names of dubious voters transferred instead: Witness --------------------------------> KOTA KINABALU: The Election Commission acted inappropriately in the recent ninth Sabah Election in March, the Election Court was told Wednesday.

The Commission had at one stage agreed to expunge the names of doubtful voters from the electoral rolls, but the names still existed.

To make matters worse, instead of the names being expunged from the rolls, they were transferred to other places within the constituency.

"The Commission cheated both us (PBS) and the public," Dr Chong Eng Leong, the losing PBS candidate in Likas constituency, told Justice Datuk Muhammad Kamil Awang Wednesday.

Dr Chong was testifying at the consolidation hearing of the election petitions filed by him and former Chief Minister Datuk Harris Salleh who also lost in Likas under a Bersekutu ticket.

They are seeking to declare the Likas result null and void.

The Likas seat won by another former Chief Minister, Datuk Yong Teck Lee, under the Barisan Nasional ticket. Yong is the President of Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) a component of the BN coalition. He retained Likas seat with a 4,962-vote majority in a six-cornered fight defeating Harris, Dr Chong and three others.

Chong told the court that an officer of the Commission confirmed that several names of doubtful voters had been expunged from the rolls following the PBS objections.

"What happened was that the Commission transferred the names that the officer said had been expunged to another place in the same constituency."

Such thing happened in Likas, Dr Chong said to another question by counsel Yunof Maringking.

He said the names of 36 people who were each holding two or three temporary identification receipts issued by the National Registration Department appeared in the electoral rolls for the constituency.

Dr Chong said these people were "phantom voters" during the March 12-13 State Election.

He said six of them were holding the NRD 1/11 receipts (Temporary Loss of IC Receipt) issued to them between Feb. 1 and Feb. 9 in 1998.

Dr Chong said the six obtained the receipts in dubious manner - from the NRD when police reports had yet to be lodged by them.

Out of curiosity, Dr Chong said he even instructed his counsel (Maringking) to write a letter to the police asking for the extracts of the purported police reports.

The police, in their reply, confirmed that no such reports were made, he told the Kuching-based Judge.

"I was made to understand that those six people lodged police reports between August and December the same year, which is about seven to 10 months after the issuance of the NRD 1/11 receipts," he added.

Dr Chong also told the court of the existence of extra ballot papers in Likas.

Eight extra ballot papers were detected following a tally. Two were detected at the SK Likas polling stream, Dr Chong said.

At this juncture, Senior Federal Counsel Abu Bakar Jais representing the Sabah Election Commission Officer and the returning officer who were named as respondents in Dr Chong's petition stood up and said the maker of the tally should be produced in court to confirm it.

Dr Chong then produced a book entitled "IC Palsu Merampas Hak Anak Sabah" - written by a local writer Abdul Mutalib Mohd Daud, alleging the existence of phantom voters in Lahad Datu.

Among the contents of the book was that 10,000 blue IC holders, believed to be foreigners, had applied to convert their ICs to those of high security ICs.

However, slightly more than 100 applications were approved while the other applications, ie, more than 9,000 have been rejected.

A research on 3,111 names of the rejected applications revealed that 79 names were listed as voters in Likas, Dr Chong said.

Maringking then tendered the book as exhibit and the court only accepted the extract containing the names of persons complained of.

Dr Chong, 54, had named Yong, the Sabah Election Commission Officer and the returning officer as respondents in his petition.

Counsel Alex Decena represent Yong in Dr Chong's petition.

Harris in his petition also named Yong as the respondent together with the other losing candidates in Likas.

Counsel PK Lim and counsel John Sikayun represent Yong in Harris' petition.

Hearing continues for another week from Nov. 9.

N13-3. Voters given cash and goodies
DE 10-11-1999

KOTA KINABALU:Goods were distributed during the campaign period in the March State election to entice voters to vote for the incumbent Likas Assemblyman, Datuk Yong Teck Lee, an election petition trial in the High Court here was told Tuesday.

Defeated Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) candidate Dr Chong Eng Leong said goods in the form of rice, water tanks, school bags and "even money" were distributed.

"All these acts of bribery were told to me by my workers. I did not see him (Yong) do that but I was told that he did," Dr Chong, said under examination-in-chief by counsel Yunof Maringking.

Dr Chong was the first witness in the trial.

The trial is a consolidation of two election petitions - one by Dr Chong and the other by former acting president of Parti Bersekutu Datuk Harris Salleh - seeking an order to declare the election result for the Likas constituency null and void due to irregularities.

Among other things, Dr Chong claimed the existence of phantom voters and corrupt practice while Harris claimed that Yong or his agents printed, distributed or posted advertisements, handbills or posters which did not bear the names and addresses of their printer and publisher.

Harris contended that this was in contravention of Section 11(1)(c) of the Election Offences Act 1954. Dr Chong was represented by Yunof while Ansari Abdullah appeared for Harris.

Yong, who won the seat and was named the third respondent, was represented by P.K. Lim, Alex Decena and John Sikayun while senior federal counsel Abu Bakar Jais appeard for the State Election Officer and the Returning Officer who were named as the first and second respondents.

Examined by Ansari, Dr Chong said the "poster war" during the election was quite stiff with posters, advertisement boards and leaflets either put up or distributed in the constituency.

Ansari: Did any of these contain the name of the printer or the publisher?

Dr Chong: No, my lord, only the dacing symbol was there. There was no name of the publisher or the printer.

Ansari: Looking at the posters, who was responsible?

Dr Chong: I believe it is done by Yong's agents.

Hearing continues tomorrow.

The court also heard that the 19 names in the objection list still appeared in the electoral rolls and listed in five voting centres in the Likas constituency.

"The 19 names were found appearing in the name list of voting centres of Bandar Selatan, Likas Timur, Bandar Utara, Likas and Pulau Gaya," Chong told Judge Datuk Mohammad Kamil Awang.

Chong said during a hearing on objections on the revised Likas Constituency 1997 Electoral Rolls on Nov 11 last year, Aminah bte Selamat, a Filipina with an IC-H0555317, turned up and admitted casting her vote twice in the State election in Kudat using the IC of which she confessed as fake.

Aminah, who is now staying at Kampung Pondo, Pulau Gaya, claimed that she obtained the IC through "Project Dr Mahathir" about eight years ago and other foreigners also managed to possess similar documents as a result of the "project IC campaign" during the same year.

The court heard Aminah was born in the Philipines and came to Sabah 10 years ago but in her IC it was stated that she was born at Kampung Sembulan here.

Apart from Aminah, Chong said three other names which were also in the objection list were found in the electoral rolls despite the holders were convicted and sentenced in the Tawau Court by Magistrate Indra Ayub Mumin for immigration offences pertaining to having forged IC.

He also disagreed with Lim on the matter of Labuan being sold by Harris pertaining to the allegations containing in the posters and billboards.

"Nobody sold Labuan. The federation of Labuan meant that the administration of the island was handed over to the Federal Government." Chong said.

On Sept 24, the court rejected with cost the application by Yong to dismiss the petitions.

Hearing continues.



to be cont'd

13Friday

N13-4. Court told of order from polls panel
DE 11/11/1999

KOTA KINABALU: More than 4,000 objections for the List A of the revised 1997 electoral rolls for the Likas state constituency were not entertained following a directive by the Election Commission's head office in Kuala Lumpur, an election petition trial in the High Court here heard today.

Edward Muji, Registering Officer in charge of voters registration for the Gaya parliamentary constituency, told the court that he received a letter from the state election officer informing him of the directive not to entertain the objections "except for reasons of death or a voter had lost his eligibility."

"I then wrote letters to all objectors informing them of the directive," he said during examination by his counsel Yunof Maringking at the election petition hearing for Likas.

Likas is one of the two state seats under the Gaya parliamentary constituency. The other is Inanam.

According to a court exhibit in the form of minutes of the hearing on objections to the electoral rolls, there were 4,585 objections on List A of the rolls.

The trial is a consolidation of two election petitions - one by Dr Chong Eng Leong of Parti Bersatu Sabah and the other by former acting president of Parti Bersekutu Datuk Harris Salleh - seeking an order to declare the election result for the Likas constituency null and void due to irregularities.

Among other things, Dr Chong claimed the existence of phantom voters and corrupt practice while Harris claimed that Datuk Yong Teck Lee or his agents printed, distributed or posted advertisements, handbills or posters which did not bear the names and addresses of their printer and publisher.

Harris contended that this was in contravention of Section 11(1)(c) of the Election Offences Act 1954.

Chong is represented by Yunof while Ansari Abdullah appeared for Harris.

Yong, the third respondent, was represented by P.K. Lim, Alex Decena and John Sikayun while Senior Federal Counsel Abu Bakar Jais appeared for the State Election Officer and the Returning Officer, the first and second respondents.



N13-5. Yong had no role in book's publication: Mutalib
DE 13-11-99

Yong had no role in book's publication: Mutalib --------------------------------> TO a question, Mutalib said Yong was not involved in publication of his book "IC Palsu" and is aware that the former Chief Minister himself had lodged a police report regarding allegations contained in the book.

Cross-examined by Senior Federal Counsel Abu Bakar Jais, Mutalib also disagreed that he had concocted the contents in his book.

Mutalib said he did not gain any benefits from the book whose purpose was solely to expose foreigners acquiring ICs.

"If so, I should have been a millionaire by now and there is no need for me to write such books anymore," he said, adding that he would not imagine creating something that could become a threat to himself.

"The Home Ministry and the enforcement teams have seized some of the books from the shop and the printing bill of the book estimated at RM40,000 is yet to be paid."

He claimed to have been offered RM2 million not to go ahead with publication of the book but did not say from whom.

"If not by me, who will dare to publish such book. I did it because I am Sabahan now and I love Malaysia. We have been independent. What is the meaning of independence if we cannot speak the truth?" he asked.

Mutalib said Malaysia is expected to have 70 million population by year 2020 and failure to expose it to the people would result in 60 million foreigners becoming Malaysians overnight through the IC project.

Abu is representing the State Election Commission and Returning Officer who had been named as the first and second respondents in the two petitions while Datuk Yong Teck Lee, named as the third respondent represented by Counsel P.K Lim, Counsel John Sikayun and Counsel Alex Decena.

The court will continue hearing today.

N13-6. '35 Lahad Datu Umno branch heads foreigners'
DE 13-11-1999

'35 Lahad Datu Umno branch heads foreigners' --------------------------------> KOTA KINABALU: Mutalib Mohd Daud, author of the controversial book "IC Palsu Merampas Hak Anak Sabah" told the High Court Friday that 35 branch chairmen and 75 Umno members in Lahad Datu were allegedly registered as voters even though they were clearly foreigners.

"While I was still executive secretary of Umno Youth for Lahad Datu division we had 34,026 members. But then it rose to 34,788 after I resigned," Mutalib said.

Answering to a question, Mutalib said only about 14,000 party members there possessed IC while the rest he doubted.

He told the court that 10,211 people had applied to get new ICs through a special project called "Project Dr Mahathir".

"However, only 180 managed to obtain their new ICs while the others failed," he said adding that people who wished to get the IC do need to propose their original IC or IC receipts or other documents.

The court heard that the other documents included passport, red IC, supporting docuemnts as well as voting slips issued by the Election Commission and party components.

Before being the executive secretary of the Umno Youth Movement, Mutalib said he was a public relations officer with the Sabah Rubber Fund Board in Lahad Datu.

He was testifying in a consolidation hearing of two petitions filed by defeated Likas candidates in the March State Election, Dr Chong Eng Leong (PBS) and former Chief Minister Datuk Harris Salleh (Bersekutu).

In their petitions, Chong and Harris seeking to nulify the March election result of the constituency won by Datuk Yong Teck Lee who was on Barisan Nasional ticket.

They claimed the alleged existence of phantom voters, double voting, corrupt practices, among others, to have influenced the constituency election result. 0

Chong was represented by Counsel Yunof Maringking while Harris by Counsel Ansari Abdullah.

Earlier, Judge Datuk Mohd Kamil Awang heard that Mutalib was initially from Kedah but became a Permanent Resident of Sabah after he applied and had an IC which he had to wait for 23 years.

"For a foreigner to get an IC is easy, but for Malaysians like me it is difficult," Mutalib pointed out.

From his findings, Mutalib said a company, Tadus Enterprise, wrote a letter to the Immigration Department in Lahad Datu on July 30, 1987, applying to the department to extend a work permit for one of its workers, Abdul Wahid Ahmad Soloko, with copies to the Counsul of Indonesia, Malaysian Migration Fund Board and the Labour Department there.

"In the letter, it stated that Abdul Wahid had a work permit with serial number 39522. However, the man had an IC which he allegedly used to become a member of Umno in Sabah," he told the court.

"This proved that that there is a syndicate or conspiracy of a higher level," Mutalib added.

"I stayed in Kampung Burung at Lahad0 Datu...but I'm confused because my neighbours happen to be Filipinos and Indonesians," he said.

"When there is a police raid one can hardly see these neighbours of mine wandering around the kampung," Mutalib told the court. "But I'm not scared of the raids because I'm a Sabahan," he said.

13Friday

Misc 1. PBS lodges report on phantoms (DE 11/03/99)

PBS lodges report on phantoms --------------------------------> KOTA KINABALU: PBS Member of Parliament for Tenom Radin Malleh lodged a police report Wednesday to investigate nearly 50,000 people alleged to be illegal immigrants issued with the new format ICs (KPT) and old ICs via forged declaration certificates.

Radin who is also PBS Sec-Gen was accompanied by another PBS MP Yunof Maringking (Tuaran) to lodge the report at about 10.45am at the KK police station.

Radin told reporters that PBS headquarters received a parcel and a letter from a "good samaritan" dated Feb. 27 by courier service together with four volumes of name lists totalling 49,270 alleged dubious IC holders.

He said the first volume alleged 15,366 were issued with the KPT or high quality ICs while the other three volumes claimed 11,855, 10,925 and 11,124 people have been issued with Blue ICs which had yet to be reverted into KPT.

A counter check against the present electorate roll so far verified exactly 11,240 KPT and 20,645 blue ICs totalling 31,885 to be in the roll and Radin believes all the names in the volumes are in the roll.

"We (have) anticipated and suspected that there are some irresponsible people making use of these people in the list to vote in the coming election," he said.

"It is very fortunate that one `good Samaritan, I don't who, has decided to come forward to tell us that there are 49,270 illegals who furnished false details in their declaration certificates to obtain ICs," he added.

Radin hoped the police and National Registration Department (NRD) would look into the matter seriously, stressing that it involved national security.

"What we want is for the police as well as NRD to find out who is responsible for the issuance and investigate thoroughly all the details furnished in the declaration certificate used to obtain the ICs," he said.

Radin said he has every reason to believe that the issuance of these ICs are not in accordance with the constitution and hoped the Election Commission (EC) would verify the matter.

He said EC should also identify which of their officers responsible to register the alleged people into the electoral roll.

Radin also made available the IC numbers to reporters alleged to have been issued to illegal immigrants. They are the series H0288001 - H0384000; H0480001 - H0576000; H0609201 - H0666400; H0352035 - H0509999; H0510000 - H0529996; and H0530000 - H0563998.

Asked to why only now with barely two more days before the State went to the poll he lodged the report, Radin said although PBS headquarters received the bundle late last month, he was only able to check it lately due to work-related constraints.

Radin, however, believed even with the presence of such dubious voters, it would not affect the PBS chances of winning.

"There are more than 700,000 people registered to vote...and what is 30,000 compared to the 700,000," he said, adding if all the Malaysians in Sabah cooperate and work together, the 30,000 is only minimal.

Meanwhile, Tuaran MP Yunof Maringking said PBS was not raising the phantom voters issue as a political ploy to gain sympathy from the people but to express concern that it could deprive Sabahans of their right.

Yunof was responding to a claim by Sabah by Sabah Umno Information Chief Datuk Karim Ghani who accused PBS of using the phantom voters issue as an excuse for possible defeat.

"I am not implying he (Karim) is involved but being a responsible person Karim should instead be cooperating with us to eliminate the problem," he said.



Misc 2. Filipino who `voted in Sabah polls' jailed DE 4 Nov 1999

KENINGAU: A Filipino who claims to have voted in the State Election in 1994 was jailed 20 months for having a forged Malaysian IC.

Magistrate Ummu Kalthom Abdul Samad who meted out the sentence also ordered Azizul Abdullah, 31, to be referred to the Immigration Department for deportation.

In the dock, Azizul told the court he cast his vote in Beaufort using the forged IC bearing registration number H0520817 in the 1994 election.

According to Prosecuting Officer Chief Insp. Bong Kuet Khiun, Azizul entered the country in 1987 using a social visit pass.

Initial investigations revealed Azizul obtained the IC from the National Registration Department in Kota Kinabalu by only paying RM1 for stamp duty.

Bong said Azizul used the IC until he was arrested in an operation in town here on Oct. 28.

The offence under Section 25 (1) (e) of the National Registration Regulations 1990 carries up to two years' jail or fine of up to RM3,000 or both upon conviction.

In another case, a man who deterred a policeman from discharging his duty was jailed seven months.

Chong Shy Woon, 34, was earlier arrested on suspicion of being a drug addict.

He committed the offence at the police station here at 5pm on May 29 as charged under Section 353 of the Penal Code.

Misc 3. Harris debt claim is baseless, says Mustapa DE 11/3/99

Harris debt claim is baseless, says Mustapa --------------------------------> KOTA KINABALU: Second Finance Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed Wednesday disputed former Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Harris Salleh's claim that the federal government owed the State Government between RM5 billion and RM10 billion.

He said Harris' claim that the money was owed to the State Government based on a formula provided for in the Federal Constitution was baseless.

Harris, the acting president of Bersekutu, said on Sunday that RM5 billion to RM10 billion owed were debts since 1964 based on the formula provided by sub-section 2(1), Part IV, Schedule 10 of the constitution.

Speaking at a press conference here, Mustapa said the provision cited by Harris was subject to Article 112D (1) of the constitution which states that sub-section 2 (1) may be reviewed.

And it was reviewed in 1969 with the federal government and Sabah government agreeing to a special federal grant of RM26.7 million a year, he said.

"In accordance with the agreement, both parties agreed that payments according to the formula be stopped," he said.

Mustapa said last year, the federal government's expenditure in Sabah totalled RM3.05 billion while revenue collected from the state amounted to RM1.59 billion.

"The amount collected was enough to pay for only 50 per cent of the federal government's expenses in Sabah," he said.

The federal government's total expenditure in Sabah between 1994 and last year was RM3.7 billion, said Mustapa.

Compared to the expenditure, the revenue collected from the state was lower by RM271 million in 1994, RM532 million (1995), RM662 million (1996), RM719 million (1997) and RM1.46 billion (1998), he said.

"The difference has been increasing from year to year," he said.

<< figures are incomplete and bias to Federal>>