Day: January 4, 2023

PUTRAJAYA— The provision of special grants to Sabah and Sarawak according to Article 112D of the Federal Constitution should be reviewed once every five years so that the amount allocated will be more reasonable, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said.

In fact, he said the Federal Government would also ensure that there will be a reasonable increase in the amount of the grants and that it would remain separate from the capitation grant or the Malaysian Road Records Information System (MARRIS) grant.

“In the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), there was a mention of Article 112D about reasonable grants to be provided to Sarawak and Sabah, starting with RM16 million and RM26 million, respectively, which should be reviewed once every five years, but this did not happen,” he told a press conference after chairing the Cabinet meeting here today.

As such, Anwar said the Federal Government will revive the review of the grants and that he hoped the matter would be finalised during his meeting with Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg and Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor in Kuching at the end of this month.

At the same time, Anwar said the Ministry of Finance has agreed for the implementation of any project with a cost below RM50 million in Sabah and Sarawak to be almost entirely decided by the state governments, subject to compliance with financial regulations.

“Even though we have the Works Department in Sabah and Sarawak, many decisions were still made in Putrajaya and despite the huge allocation given, it could not be fully utilised due to bureaucracy and the usual practice of having to refer everything to the Federal (Government),” he said.

The Prime Minister said today’s leaders need to be persistent in defending Malaysia’s spirit in MA63 while doing their level best to honour the agreement which reflects the wisdom of the previous leadership.

In this context, he said the MA63 Technical Committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof will continue to ensure that all pending issues related to MA63 can be resolved accordingly.

On the Pan Borneo Highway project, Anwar said the progress of the project in Sarawak was better than in Sabah, which requires additional allocations that will be detailed by Fadillah and the Ministry of Public Works.

Meanwhile, he said the Sabah State Assembly will finalise the transfer of the regulatory power for gas supply in Sabah from the Federal Government to the Sabah Government after it was consented by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, last month.

 

 

 

Source: Prime Minister’s Office of Malaysia

The U.S. military has dismissed China’s accusation that a U.S. spy plane “engaged in dangerous maneuvers against a Chinese Navy fighter jet” over the South China Sea on Dec. 21, maintaining that it was the Chinese fighter that caused the two aircraft to nearly collide.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), in an original statement on Dec. 29, said that on Dec. 21, a Chinese J-11 fighter pilot performed an unsafe maneuver during an intercept of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 aircraft, forcing the RC-135 to “take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision.”

INDOPACOM provided a video recorded by the U.S. crew.

Three days later, on Jan. 1, the PLA Southern Theater Command released its own version, also supported by a video, saying “the U.S. intentionally misled the public” and it was the U.S. RC-135 aircraft that “abruptly changed its flight attitude and forced the Chinese aircraft to the left.”

In the latest response to the RFA on Wednesday, INDOPACOM resolutely rejected the PLA version, insisting that the Chinese J-11 was responsible for the near-collision.

3 meters from the wing

“A U.S. Air Force RC-135 positively identified and observed a People’s Liberation Army Navy [PLAN] J-11 on Dec. 21 in the South China Sea,” said INDOPACOM’s Public Affairs department in Camp Smith, Hawaii, in a written reply.

It said the U.S. reconnaissance aircraft was conducting routine operations in the international airspace when “the PLAN fighter approached the RC-135 and positioned itself approximately 10 feet (3 meters) from the RC-135’s wing.”

According to INDOPACOM, the PLAN aircraft “maneuvered toward the front of the RC-135, into a position where it is unlikely the PLAN pilot could maintain a safe visual of the U.S. RC-135.”

“While the RC-135 maintained its course and speed, the PLAN fighter dangerously drifted within 20 feet (6 meters) of the RC-135’s nose, forcing the RC-135 to take evasive maneuvers to avoid collision,” the Command said.

In its version, the PLA Southern Theater Command said the U.S. plane “conducted intentional close-in reconnaissance in the vicinity of China’s southern coastline and the Xisha [Paracel] Islands” in the South China Sea, which China controls.

The spokesman, Senior Col. Tian Junli, said: “During the process, in disregard of repeated warnings from the Chinese pilot, the U.S. aircraft abruptly changed its flight attitude and forced the Chinese aircraft to the left.”

Tian said the U.S. military’s statement was “nothing but slander and speculation.”

He also accused the U.S. aircraft of violating a U.S.-China Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the rules of behavior for the safety of air and maritime encounters signed in 2015.

In the videos released by INDOPACOM and the Chinese military, the PLAN J-11 was seen flying within a very close range of the U.S.’s RC-135 aircraft.  

The J-11 then flew ahead of the RC-135 before drifting even closer to the RC-135. The U.S. aircraft responded by dropping down.

Aerial intercepts of less than 500 feet (152 meters) are considered a violation of the 2015 MOU and Chinese aircraft are often caught doing so.

‘Buzzing’ foreign aircraft

Flying close extremely close and fast – known as “buzzing” – risks mid-air collisions.

Chinese fighter jets repeatedly “buzzed” a Canadian reconnaissance aircraft on a U.N. mission in East Asia, with over two dozen intercepts deemed dangerous, Canadian media reported in June 2022.

On these occasions the Chinese jets reportedly came as close as 20 to 100 feet (6 to 30 meters) to the Canadian plane.

There have been a number of close encounters between Chinese and foreign military aircraft in recent years. 

The latest incident took place in March when U.S. Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters had at least one close contact with China’s J-20 stealth fighters over the East China Sea.

A U.S. Navy P-3C Orion surveillance aircraft and a Chinese military surveillance aircraft came within 1,000 feet (305 meters) of each other in the skies over the South China Sea in 2017.

The worst incident occurred in April 2001 when a Chinese F-8 fighter jet collided with a U.S. Navy EP-3 Aries II surveillance plane over the South China Sea, killing the Chinese pilot. The U.S. aircraft had to make an emergency landing on China’s Hainan island and its 24 crew members were detained for 11 days before being released.