KUCHING: Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said he will not stoop so low and be dragged into a war of words through the media with Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng over the tourism tax issue.
“Suffice to say that Lim Guan Eng admitted that the tourism tax has not been paid by the federal government and that confirms what I say when queried by the media on Jan 3 2019,” said Abdul Karim who is also Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) vice president.
Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah
“Lim Guan Eng should know that he has a bigger task to do which is to improve on the Malaysian economy than to issue press statement after press statement for three consecutive days over a small matter like tourism tax,” he added.
Abdul Karim said this when reacting to the latest comment by Lim who alleged that Sarawak had made false allegations on the tourism tax.
Bernama yesterday quoted Lim as telling a press conference in Putrajaya that the Sarawak government’s claim that the federal government had paid the tourism tax for 2018 to Sabah is untrue because no state has received the revenue to date.
He was also quoted as saying that the Sabah government had also denied the state had received 50 per cent of the revenue from tourism tax.
On Monday, Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew denied Abdul Karim’s claim on Jan 4 that Sabah had received the tourism tax from the federal government.
Lim in his statement on Sunday said the distribution of 50 per cent tourism tax for 2018 to all state governments would be done in the first quarter of this year.