By Peter Sibon
KUCHING, Jan 15: Taking Petronas to court over its non-compliance to pay the 5 per cent State Sales Tax (SST) was a watershed decision for Sarawak to safeguard its rights, opined political observer Datuk Peter Minos
“By suing Petronas, Sarawak has made a stand that is great, momentous and historic. It is also a watershed in that, for once and at long last, Sarawak has asserted itself in defending its rights under the laws, against a giant company that is Petronas and indirectly, the big bully the Pakatan Harapan Federal government.
“We salute our Sarawak government and our CM for making the stand,” Minos said here today.
He described Petronas’ reluctance to pay the 5 per cent Sales Tax as a form of bullying by both the national oil corporation and the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government.
“Rhetoric and all the talking do not seem to work anymore. Sarawakians are fed up and frustrated. Petronas and its master the PH federal government are not listening and not respecting Sarawak. They are in fact unfriendly and hostile to Sarawak.
“We do not quite know the reasons why but they are simply hostile. So, enough is enough. The red line is crossed. Time for action by using the law,” he asserted.
The Kota Samarahan Municipal chairman also claimed that Petronas had benefitted immensely from oil resources in Sarawak over the years.
“Imagine Petronas, which has been making billions upon billions of ringgits from Sarawak’s oil and gas since 1974 and paying PH Federal government not less than RM70 billion a year, does not respect Sarawak and Sarawak’s laws at all. This is too much and too far.
“Sarawak must stand and fight it out in the courts. There is no more choice. Sarawak has, at long last, done so. Yes, let us do it for the love of Sarawak. It’s now or never,” said Minos.
Minos was commenting on Petronas’ continued refusal to pay the 5 per cent SST.
Yesterday, the High Court had decided to fix Jan 23 whether Judicial Commissioner Christopher Chin should recuse himself from presiding over the High Court case of the Sarawak Government suing Petronas for unpaid SST amounting to some RM1.3 billion for the first half of last year (2019). —DayakDaily
