KUCHING, Dec 9: Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing has chided Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) for not following the Sarawak government’s move to pursue more revenue from national oil corporation Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) when Warisan was still in the Sabah government.
He believed the reason why Warisan refused to join the Sarawak government in taking legal action against Petronas to claim State Sales Tax (SST) was because they were scared of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was the prime minister of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government at the time.
“When I told the previous Warisan government to join us to sue Petronas for our oil and gas (O&G) SST of 5 per cent rights, and to stop riding on Sarawak government’s coat-tails especially when fighting for the two eastern Borneo states rights and interest, a Warisan government minister told me off and call me ‘naughty boy who lacked discipline’.
“Now the new Sabah government knows that their O&G assets are being unduly exploited by Petronas, and are wanting some of their revenue back.
“I wish them all the luck,” Masing asserted in a statement today.
Masing, who is also Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president was responding to a news article quoting Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan who congratulated the Sarawak government for signing a commercial settlement agreement with Petronas on Monday (Dec 7).
Jeffrey said Sabah will also make efforts to sign a similar deal with Petronas and that the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) state government will not assume the wait-and-see attitude of the previous Warisan government in reclaiming the state’s rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“We will work closely with the Sarawak government in our aim to ensure all the rights under MA63 are fulfilled and correct all the breaches which have been accumulating over the decades,” he was quoted as saying. — DayakDaily
