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Willie Mongin
KUCHING: Sarawak loses none of her rights to the federal government following an agreement with Petronas on the management of the state’s oil and gas assets as well as the sales tax on petroleum products, says Plantation and Commodities Deputy Minister Willie Mongin.
Willie, who is Puncak Borneo MP, said the RM2 billion payment to the state was a commercial settlement outside the court and as such, the relevant points of law were not the prime concern as much as expediency.
He said because expediency was the main determiner, court room arguments over points of law from the Petroleum Development Act (PDA 1974), the Oil Mining Ordinance 1958 (OMO 1958) and the States Sales Tax Ordinance 1998 (SST 1998) did not take place and consequently, there was no court judgment on which party won or lost.
“What it means in simple language is the three legislation commonly thought to be crucial in Sarawak’s efforts to enforce her rights remain status quo and by extension, Sarawak rights as enshrined in those legislation too remained undiminished.
“One of those rights that remain untouched is Petronas cannot operate in Sarawak until they applied for and is given a license by Petros to operate in Sarawak’s territory,” he said in a statement in respond to DAP’s Dr Ting Tiong Choon and Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) president Lina Soo’s statement against the Sarawak government.
Willie reminded Ting and Soo that Sarawak’s land mass of 124,450 square kilometers is just 80,947 square kilometers smaller than the entire Peninsular Malaysia, but is lagging far behind in terms of all aspects.
He said the rural population of Sarawak cannot be sufficiently empowered to lift themselves up from poverty unless and until they have good infrastructural access to the urban areas.
I believed that for that to happen, a huge amount of money is needed by the Sarawak government.
“Empty bravado and political rhetoric most definitely will not change the fate of the rural people or the urban poor.
“A protracted legal battle in courts will only serve to prolong the sufferings of the rural people who are still in dire need of connectivity and basic utilities,” he said.
He said as a Sarawakian MP, he would never allow Sarawak’s rights to be eroded and he would work for the mutual benefit of all Malaysians under the Perikatan Nasional federal government.
Willie commended Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg and his team for their wisdom shown in accepting the out-of-court settlement of RM2 billion.
“I sincerely hope that they will have the same wisdom as they negotiate the payment mechanism so that Sarawak can have the funds soonest possible,” he said.
Both Ting and Soo’s statements were issued in reaction to the Sarawak government’s decision to accept a commercial settlement of their claim for SST on petroleum products transactions instead of continuing to pursue their claims in court were published by The Borneo Post on May 10.
The Sarawak government and Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) had on May 8, announced that they had reached an agreement on the State Sales Tax (SST) with the national oil corporation agreeing to pay RM2 billion owed to the state.
Ting was quoted on May 10 as having said that the agreement by Sarawak GPS government to accept Petronas ’RM2 billion as the full payment for the five 2019 bill for the SST is the“ biggest traitorous decision since PDA 1974 ”.
Assistant Minister for Law, State-Federal Relations and Project Monitoring Assistant Minister Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali when clarifying on the matter yesterday said the settlement itself was reached after Petronas failed in its application to have proceedings to enforce payment of the SST as assessed for year 2019, deferred or suspended until the disposal of its Appeal, scheduled to be on June 17, 2020.
She said that Petronas has agreed to pay in full the SST due for Year 2019 and to withdraw its Appeal, must be deemed to be its unequivocal acknowledgment or admission of the State’s constitutional right to impose SST on petroleum products and its acceptance of the High Court Judgment which declared the State has such constitutional authority to impose SST.
She noted that by withdrawing the Appeal, Petronas agreed to be bound by the decisions of the High Court where the High Court decided that Sarawak’s rights are protected by the Federal Constitution, The Malaysia Agreement 1963 and the Recommendations under Inter Governmental Committee Report 1962.
It must be made clear that by withdrawing their appeal, Petronas recognises our Constitutional right and they are bounds by the Laws of Sarawak and the decisions of the Court which, prior to this, Petronas refused to acknowledge our rights under the Constitution, MA63 and IGC Report, she added.
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