KUCHING, Oct 25: Sarawak Reform Party (STAR) president Lina Soo today described as “political doublespeak” Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s statement on revenue sharing with Sarawak. She believed it was designed to hoodwink Sarawakians in order to continue plundering Sarawak’s resources and taxes.
Soo was also puzzled why Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak failed to address Lim’s statement in Parliament in which he said Sarawak had to wait until the country’s financial position permits before the federal government could share revenue with Sarawak.
“Which excuse is he using to hoodwink Sarawakians to cover up their tracks to continue to plunder Sarawak’s resources, specifically oil and gas, and taxes contributed by Sarawak?” she asked, in a press statement.
“If the federal government refuses to return its revenue, then what is the meaning of Sarawak remaining in the federation when it defeats its very purpose, in a situation where the federal government sabotages Sarawak’s economy and continues its flagrant breaches of the Malaysia Agreement?”
Sarawak is at the crossroads, she opined, so the people of Sarawak must be wise to stand up against more bullying and exploitation, regardless of whichever regime was in power.
She named PH Sarawak’s Members of Parliament (MPs) Chong Chieng Jen, Baru Bian and Dr Kelvin Yii for failing to live up to their promise of increasing royalty to 20 per cent and the return of 50 per cent of Sarawak’s taxes back to Sarawak.
“Are their pledges just empty words before the general election? Why are they lost for words now? It is the duty of the federal government to ensure that Sarawak has money for development after collecting Sarawak’s oil revenue and taxes,” she said.
She, thus, criticised the PH government for failing to fulfil their promise that there would be more money as there would be no more corruption.
“The BN (Barisan Nasional) regime took oil-producing states’ wealth and taxes and made sure that no state can survive without federal aid. And now the Pakatan regime is simply continuing the exploitation of Sarawak’s wealth and making Sarawak a beggar state. This is not by accident, but by design,” she alleged.
She reminded the federal government that there was no condition in the Malaysia Agreement that revenue sharing was subject to the economic and fiscal condition of Malaysia.
“This is another unilateral (one-sided) imposition of term and condition by the federal government that repudiates the Malaysia Agreement and compounds the multiple breaches of the international treaty upon which the Federation of Malaysia exists,” she said. — DayakDaily
