Abg Jo not satisfied with just RM1

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KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg is not satisfied with only 10 per cent of the revenue collected from Tourism Tax to be channelled to Sarawak.

He indicated that Sarawak would not settle for the recent announcement by Putrajaya that RM1 from every RM10 collected for Tourism Tax would be given to the state starting next year as it was contrary to what had been agreed upon earlier.

“We will negotiate with KL (Putrajaya). Initially it was not supposed to be one ringgit (for every RM10 collected),” he said when met by reporters after launching the 2nd International Conference on Special Education (ICSE) 2017 at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching here yesterday.

Abang Johari said he could not bring himself to agree with the 10 per cent “because the initial arrangement is different”.

According to him, Sarawak and Sabah earlier submitted a joint memorandum to Putrajaya with regards to how revenue collected from Tourism Tax should be distributed, which made it clear that the revenue ought to be distributed equally among three regions – Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah.

On Sunday, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah requested Putrajaya to explain to Sarawak and Sabah why their share of the Tourism Tax revenue had been reduced to RM1 for every RM10 collected.

The Asajaya assemblyman said it had been negotiated that the total revenue collection was to be divided equally among Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah.

Abdul Karim said the equal distribution among the three regions was proposed by federal Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz and seconded by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.