KOTA KINABALU: Likas assemblyman Junz Wong has urged the Barisan Nasional (BN) government to ensure 1 country 1 price first before even considering implementing the Goods and Service Tax (GST).
Junz, who is also the national DAPSY publicity secretary and DAP Sabah state assistant secretary, said that the prices of general essential goods in all regions of the country must be the same if GST were to be implemented fairly.
“Generally, prices of essential goods in Sabah and Sarawak are higher compared with Peninsular Malaysia due to the high cost of delivery and distribution,” he said.
“That means we Sabahans will be paying higher taxes for a similar item bought compared to West Malaysians because it is more expensive here in Sabah,” Junz said.
“This is extremely unfair to Sabah and Sarawak to the extent that we feel that the government is systematically discriminating against the people of Sabah and Sarawak,” he added.
“Why should Sabahans and Sarawakians pay for higher taxes?” Junz asked.
He noted that in the Prime Minister’s 2013 Budget speech in parliament in 2012, he introduced a Price Uniformity Scheme and various initiatives, including provision of transport subsidy to offset the cost of delivering products from Peninsular Malaysia to Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan, including the interior areas.
For this, the government has allocated RM386 million to ensure the prices of essential goods in Sabah and Sarawak as well as in Labuan are sold at lower prices, he said, adding that this included the opening of 57 Kedai Rakyat 1 Malaysia (KR1M) stores.
Junz said he was however amazed that after introducing various price uniformity programmes, even items within KR1M stores in West Malaysia and Sabah are different.
“Prices of KR1M items are sold higher in Sabah compared to Peninsular Malaysia,” he claimed.
He said this was largely due to lopsided policy such as cabotage policy and poor connectivity within the state which had caused higher delivery and logistic costs. Thus, abolishing cabotage policy and upgrading road infrastructure with sense of urgency, would be a good start.
“I will be moving a motion in the upcoming State Assembly to seek for collective support from all Sabah elected representatives regardless of our political differences to reject GST to be implemented in Sabah.
“There is no better time to show that Sabah elected representatives are putting the interests of Sabahans as their top priority,” he added.