Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg – File photo
KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg is adamant that the state will take legal action if Petronas still refuses to pay five per cent state sales tax imposed by the Sarawak government on petroleum products.
“It was not discussed (in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) Steering Committee). Never mind, (if) they don’t pay, we sue them lah,” he was responding to reporters asking about the MA63 steering committee which met in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Abang Johari was asked after officiating at the Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) new office at Bangunan Yayasan Sarawak in the city centre this morning.
Abang Johari said he had instructed Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Law, State-Federal Relations and Project Monitoring) Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali to come up with an official statement on the meeting.
Sharifah Hasidah in the statement said that the issues surrounding oil royalty and cash payment for petroleum and gas extracted from Sabah and Sarawak would be discussed separately next month.
She said that discussion would only be between Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the two chief ministers of Sabah and Sarawak, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal and Abang Johari.
On Petronas’ operation in Sarawak, Sharifah said the discussion would be on the basis of “business to business” between Petronas, Petros and the Sarawak government,
“The steering committee has agreed to form a special committee just to monitor the implementation of resolutions made during its final meeting in Putrajaya yesterday.
“This special committee will be chaired by the Prime Minister whereas the two chiefs ministers of Sabah and Sarawak respectively are appointed members,” she said.