Dr James Jemut Masing
KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing has called upon the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government to pay what is due to Sarawak by virtue of stipulations within the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“PH is duty bound to give Sarawak and Sabah part of the RM137.035 billion in taxes collected in 2018 for two reasons. One, it was promised in its GE14 Manifesto. You promised you would give (to us). And two, it (the duty to pay) was stipulated in the MA63 Agreement,” said Masing, who is also Minister of Infrastructure Development and Transportation today.
He said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng should not “simply wriggle his way out” of the above reasons.
Yesterday, Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru (PBDSB) through its Women chief Sylvia John Gemok also made a similar call.
Sylvia said just last week Lim told the press that a total of RM137.035 billion in direct taxes were collected in 2018, and yet earlier on he (Lim) mentioned that Sarawak owed the federal government more than RM2.5 billion as at Nov 30, 2018.
“If one looks at Lim’s statements, the taxes collected (so far) should have been enough to pay back Sabah and Sarawak. But Lim gave us unreasonable explanations,” she said.
Based on the MA63, the federal government is supposed to pay 40 per cent in tax revenues to these two states, and after 55 years, the federal government still owes Sarawak this 40 per cent tax revenue, she claimed.