PRESSSTATEMENT

ExemptSabahSarawakfromGSTJeffrey

Kota Kinabalu: The people of Sabah and Sarawak should be exempted from the Goods and ServicesTax(GST)thatappearsimminentlytobeimplementedbytheBNFederalgovernmentatany timesaidDatukDr.JeffreyKitingan,STARSabahChief,inapressstatementreleasedtoday. Foremost, the PM need to practise what he says and start implementing his transparency programs by stop testing the people by using mouthpieces for feedbacks on the intended GST implementation. The BN government should stop beating round the bush and just plainly say that it needs to raise another RM27 billion from GST, which is the equivalent to about RM1,000 per person per year, to cover the ballooning national debt which have been increased partly by the various Santa Clause programstofishforvotesintherecentgeneralelections. TheBNgovernmentshouldnottreatthepeopleasfoolsanymore.Peoplecanunderstandtheneed toincreaserevenuetocoverthenationaldebtbutwhethertheneedtotaxandburdenthepeopleis another matter all together. The government should pay attention to reduction of economic leakages and to wipe out corruption which is probably the biggest cause for any unjustified increase inthenationaldebt. As for the GST itself, the federal government should exempt Sabah and Sarawak from its implementation.TheGSTwillburdenSabahansandSarawakianswhoarealreadypoor. SabahandSarawakaremorethanjustifiedinbeingexemptedfromtheGSTimplementation. Firstly, Sabah and Sarawak, both with riches and wealth have been robbed and are now suffering from being made the two poorest states in Malaysia. In 2012, RM17.88 billion in oil revenue were siphoned by Petronas from Sabah and another RM35 billion from Sarawak. Sabah lost another RM24billioninfederaltaxesandrevenuescollectedfromthestate. Secondly, the crippling cabotage policy is not only increasing the living costs of Sabahans but is stifling Sabahs economy and making Sabah an uncompetitive investment destination. Thus, deprivingouryouthsoffurtherjobopportunities. If the PM is serious with his Rakyat DiDahulukan slogan, the PM should immediately abolish the cabotagepolicy.Thereisnotwowaywithit.Yet,thefederalandstategovernmentsaredeaftothe pleasofthepeopletohavethecabotagepolicyabolished. Thirdly, rural Sabahans and Sarawakians have low household incomes and this is even made worse by the federal governments minimum salary level which has fixed a lower minimum of RM900 for Sabah and Sarawak and discriminates against them compared to West Malaysians with a threshold levelofRM1,000.

2 Last but not least, instead of imposing the GST on Sabah and Sarawak, the PM should stop the marginalizationofSabahansandSarawakiansandimplementprogramsinbothstatestoincreasethe incomelevelsandimprovetheirlivelihoods,consistentwithhisRakyatDiDahulukanslogan. IfthePMfailstoexemptSabahandSarawakfromtheGSTimplementation,heshouldbewaryofthe consequencesofbeingthelastUmnoPrimeMinister. The people in Sabah and Sarawak have awoken to the concept of Sabah and Sarawak being the kingmakers and can topple the BN federal government at any time. This kingmaker role and leverage can be seen in the increased composition of Sabah and Sarawak lawmakers in the new Cabinetanddemandsformore. I will personally be meeting further with Sabah and Sarawak leaders and work on bringing this kingmaker role to the next level. We need to work towards the restoration of our rights and autonomyifitmeanstopplingthecurrentBNregimeconcludedDr.Jeffrey. DatukDr.JeffreyKitingan Chairman STARSabah 19May2013