KOTA KINABALU, SABAH, MALAYSIA January 18, 2026 – The United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (UPKO) has urged the Federal Government to immediately withdraw the appeal filed at the Court of Appeal against the grounds of judgment of the Kota Kinabalu High Court decision on 17 October 2025, concerning the judicial review on Sabah’s 40 per cent revenue rights.
UPKO President Datuk Ewon Benedick said the party’s stance aligns with its principled struggle to resolve Sabah’s rights issue with genuine respect and sincerity.
“This is the core of Malaysia that UPKO must continue to fight for. This is the ‘soul searching’ – the political introspection we have long needed, where we must bravely look back and ask whether the Federation that was formed has delivered justice to the agreement signed in 1963,” he said.
He emphasised that reinstating the 40 per cent rights is critically needed to address Sabah’s development needs, poverty eradication, economic and industrial programmes, entrepreneurship, public welfare, scholarships, human capital development, and various other initiatives for the people of Sabah.
Ewon made these remarks while officiating the 17th UPKO Triennial Delegates Conference at the Sabah International Convention Centre (SICC) today.
Ewon, who is also Deputy Chief Minister III and Minister of Industrial Development, Entrepreneurship and Transport of Sabah, said the second meeting of the senior officials’ committee following the High Court decision – originally scheduled for December – had been postponed.
“The position that Sabah’s senior officials delegation should have brought forward is for the Federal Government to withdraw the appeal. But the meeting was postponed. I cannot answer on behalf of the Federal Government why it was postponed,” he said.
Ewon, who is also the Member of Parliament for Penampang, said he would reiterate UPKO’s stance during the upcoming parliamentary debate.
He acknowledged that Sabah’s progress today is better than before 1963 and expressed appreciation for the resolution of 13 issues related to Sabah and Sarawak’s rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) achieved so far, thanks to good relations between the Federal and State Governments.
“However, the revenue sharing through the return of 40 per cent of Federal revenue collected in Sabah to the State Government – which ceased implementation in 1974 – remains the primary demand of the people of Sabah that has yet to be resolved,” he explained.
In this regard, Ewon said UPKO would continue to stand with the people of Sabah, whether through government channels, politics, legal action, academia, activism, or social media, to demand a comprehensive resolution of the 40 per cent rights.
“Our presence in the Federal Government from December 2022 until my decision to resign from the Federal Cabinet has recorded the party positions that I have fought for,” he added.
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