KUCHING, Sept 12: The Joint Committee on Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) chaired by Senior Minister (Works) Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof and Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz will meet for the third time on Sept 17 here.
Hosted by the Sarawak government, he said the federal government and Petronas will also attend the meeting where they will present the latest updates from the working or technical committee.
“Among the agenda of the meeting is to hear what the technical committee has achieved, what has been agreed upon and issues that has not been agreed upon,” Fadillah told reporters after gracing the opening of ‘Malaysia Day: Diary of An Artist’ exhibition this afternoon.
He disclosed that currently, the issue that has not been agreed upon is the quantum.
When asked by reporters to elaborate further, he said, “This is what the committee is looking into now. What is the quantum? Let my boss announce it later.”
Another part that the committee has yet to reach into agreement is the operations for on shore and off shore.
Fadillah added that for on shore operations, it was more or less agreed, but for off shore, this would be discussed or negotiated further.
If the committee is unable to resolve an issue, he pointed that they will then refer to the highest committee which is between Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
“Hopefully we are able to solve any disagreement and firm it up on this coming meeting (Sept 17), otherwise we will refer to Muhyiddin and Abang Johari,” he said.
As to what the committee as achieved to date, Fadillah said both Petronas and Sarawak government have withdrawn their lawsuits in court, withdrew the appeals and came up with a ‘commercial settlement’.
“Petronas has also indicated and actually said they will pay Sarawak the outstanding State Sales Tax for 2019 before end of this month (Sept),” Fadillah added.-DayakDaily
