By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Nov 22: Tasik Biru assemblyman Datuk Henry Harry Jinep believes that the Sarawak government is making the right move in taking Petronas to the court of law to settle the issue of non-payment for five per cent sales tax on petroleum and petroleum products.
He emphasised that Malaysia should be governed by the rule of law and not the whims and fancies of any individuals.
“Indeed that is the way we administer the state and not to whims and fancies of others. There is law and order that we all need to abide to and procedures that we need to adhere to before we go to the extend of referring the defaulters to the Court of Law.
“The government is taking the right approach to get Petronas to pay. What (is) next, we leave it to the court to decide,” Harry told DayakDaily.
He thus called on Sarawakians to stand behind the Sarawak government by giving moral support as any new revenue raked into state coffer will be used to develop Sarawak especially the vast rural areas.
“The Sarawak government under the leadership of YAB (Datuk Patinggi) Abang Johari (Tun Openg) has been working tirelessly to look for new sources of revenue, since the federal government has been claiming (that they have) ‘no money’ for our development projects.
“Any extra income Sarawak government manages to receive will be put to the use to develop Sarawak especially the rural areas.
“Stand behind our state government. Let us give the state government our support so that they can move on with full knowledge that the people of Sarawak are backing them up,” he urged.
The Comptroller of the State Sales Tax, Sarawak and the State Government have filed a Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim at the High Court registry here yesterday.
The claim against Petronas was to recover the five per cent state sales tax on petroleum and petroleum products. The state sales tax for petroleum products has been imposed by Sarawak under the State Sales Tax Ordinance 1998.
As a result, the state government was left with no choice but to commence legal action for the recovery of the unpaid taxes due.
On Wednesday (Nov 20), DayakDaily had confirmed with a reliable source that Petronas is owing the Sarawak government about RM1.29 billion in sales tax on petroleum products for the first half this year.
The source added that other oil companies such as Murphy Oil and Pertamina have paid their due to Sarawak.— DayakDaily
