S’wak should impose 25 pct SST on oil and gas instead of 5 pct, opines Aspirasi president

Lina Soo

KUCHING (Sept 18): Sarawak should impose 25 per cent State Sales Tax (SST) on its oil and gas as five per cent is too little, opined Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) president Lina Soo.

In a statement today, she said that this is because Sarawak is the landowner and has ownership and economic rights over all its resources, as enshrined in Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), Sarawak Constitution and Federal Constitution.

She pointed out that Petronas paid 38 per cent of petroleum tax (PITA) to the federal government since the 1970s, whereas Sarawak had only started to impose the 5 per cent SST in 2019.

“If Petronas feels that 25 per cent is untenable, then Petronas should just pay five per cent PITA to the federal government and 25 per cent SST to Sarawak,” she said.

Soo claimed that Sarawak’s petroleum rights had been usurped by the unconstitutional Petroleum Development Act, which should not be applicable to Sarawak.

She wanted to know the terms of settlement, if any, under which Petronas had paid the 5 per cent SST to Sarawak government.

“What are the strings attached, when the settlement of the five per cent SST should be unconditional?

“Why is the Sarawak government not seeking to declare PDA unconstitutional and not applicable to Sarawak?” she questioned.

Soo also wants the state government to declare that Sarawak has full ownership and all economic rights over its oil and gas found in Sarawak and offshore territorial waters.

She calls on the state government to disclose all dealings with Petronas and the federal government as it has nothing to fear if it knows it has done the right thing by Sarawakians.

“Do not hide behind the Official Secrets Act. Do not form meaningless committees and subcommittees every other day to cloak your failures.

“Our sovereignty over our oil and gas resources cannot be compromised even one drop,” she added.

The post S’wak should impose 25 pct SST on oil and gas instead of 5 pct, opines Aspirasi president appeared first on Borneo Post Online.

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