By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Dec 25: The Sarawak government is adamant that its formula to review the special grant due to Sarawak under Article 112D of the Federal Constitution is fairer than that of the federal government’s.
Premier of Sarawak Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said the State government has extended the wishes and aspirations of what Sarawak wants in relation to Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) to Deputy Prime Minister Dato Sri Fadillah Yusof as the coordinator for both parties.
“We have our own formula and Fadillah mentioned that it is being discussed.
“At the same time, I was made to understand that the federal government has come up with their own formula.
“However, we stood our ground with our formula because it is more fair to Sarawak and the federal government,” he told reporters during a Christmas visit to Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas at the latter’s residence at Taman BDC here today.
Nonetheless, Abang Johari hopes that the federal government would understand the rationale behind the proposed formula by Sarawak which he sees as fairer to both the federal government and Sarawak based on the revenue obtained by the federal government from Sarawak.
“As an example, our stamp duty is collected by the federal government although the transaction involves the purchase of our land property where land is an asset of Sarawak,” he added.
Also present were Uggah, Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, Deputy Minister in the Premier’s Department (Law, MA63 and State-Federal Relations) Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, Betong MP Dr Richard Rapu, Satok assemblyman Dato Ibrahim Baki, and Sarawak Federation of Chinese Associations president Dato Richard Wee. — DayakDaily
