MIRI, Aug 26: The imposition of State Sales Tax (SST) has increased state income from oil and gas by four times.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said while Sarawakians used to watch others extracting their oil and gas resources, now Sarawak is taking a much bigger share.
“We have imposed SST for all oil and gas produced by Sarawak. Before this, we were only given oil and gas royalty (which is five per cent of crude production).
“Now with SST, we are receiving four times the income of oil and gas royalty,” Abang Johari revealed during the launch of a Section 18 of the Land Code programme in Miri today.
He said Sarawak had to go to court to make that happen. As Sarawak had won the case, the state now possesses the rights to impose SST on oil and gas.
“We used to watch others taking our oil and gas. Now they have to share with Sarawak. This is what I have achieved after three years of being chief minister,” Abang Johari noted.
He pointed out that with the extra income, the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government could afford to allocate RM1.5 billion for the Highland Development Agency (HDA) to develop the highland areas in the Northern Region of Sarawak.
“I have my own way of increasing our capital. GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) uses our own model of raising capital for development, without having to affect the state’s finances,” said Abang Johari. — DayakDaily
