BAU: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said it was a blessing in disguise for Sarawakians when Barisan Nasional (BN) lost in the 14th general election.
On seeing BN’s weaknesses, he and his colleagues in the state government decided to leave the coalition to find, among other things, alternative revenues that can be gathered under its constitutional rights for developing Sarawak, he said at a belated Chinese New Year dinner at Siniawan Community Hall near here last Wednesday.
Following that move, Sarawak started taking active part in upstream and downstream activities of its gas and oil industry including imposing a sales tax of five percent on exported oil and gas products.
Abang Johari said Sarawak needs the extra revenue to develop the state as fast as possible seeing that at the federal level the state is in opposition to the ruling coalition, Pakatan Harapan (PH).
On BN’s weaknesses, he pointed out that one of the most disadvantageous to Sarawak is the fact that decisions were made based on consensus.
“Sarawak had four parties in BN but there were several more from Sabah and the Peninsular, so we always lost based on the consensus principle when decisions were made,” he explained.
He said in certain ways Sarawak is lucky to have Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) whose leaders understand our constitutional rights and protect them.
“We are now in the process of getting our rights back,” he said, adding that the federal government has agreed to amend Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution to do so.
The chief minister said there are other provisions in the Constitution that are still being discussed except for four areas which are Sarawak’s absolute rights that will never be subject to discussion or compromise.
He was referring to the state’s rights over immigration autonomy, land, boundaries and resources.
“Immigration autonomy is ours and we will never discuss it. Our land code is supreme and nobody is allowed to breach it.
“They must also respect our boundaries which cannot be changed including the continental shelf, which is about 200 nautical miles. This is Sarawak’s rights and we won’t compromise on it.
“We are also not going to discuss the resources found on our land and we will not surrender them,” stressed the chief minister, which received a big applause.
“These are non-negotiable rights of Sarawak that will never be surrendered to the federal government,” he said.
“It is our firm stand and people must understand that the state’s rights can only be protected by Sarawakians.”
He said the state government decided to impose five percent sales tax on exported oil and gas products as it has no real confidence that the federal government would increase the royalty due to Sarawak.
“There hasn’t been any decision made on the increase of royalty which has been discussed since during the time of the late Tok Nan (Chief Minister Pehin Sri Adenan Satem),” he said.
The state government thus has to find another means, that is, to impose sales tax on exported oil and gas products.
