PRESSSTATEMENT

TelltheTruthorBeInvestigatedJeffrey
Kota Kinabalu: The Inland Revenue Board should be truthful about the tax revenues collected in Sabah rather than trying to cover up the truth just because Sabah is now claiming its constitutional share of this revenues said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief, in response to frontpages stories that only RM4 billion federal tax collection was targeted by the IRB from Sabah in 2013 and notRM40billionasreportedearlier. The RM40 billion was initially announced by the IRB Sabah and they appear to be backtracking as if to attempt a coverup now that Sabah is entitled to twofifths (40%) of the net revenue collected fromSabah. The Sabah government must do more and investigate into the matter and not be sidetracked by accepting whatever is being pushed down all the time from Kuala Lumpur. It is the duty and responsibility of the Sabah government, first and foremost, towards the State and the people of SabahnotthepoliticalmastersfromMalaya. Just looking at several preliminary figures, there appears to be basis for an amount of more than RM4 billion. Petronas takes RM17.88 billion from Sabahs oil and gas. What about the major oil companies producing oil and gas from Sabah? Sabah takes about RM1.1 billion in oil palm levies. Sabah produces about 35% of Malaysias crude palm oil output and in 2012 Malaysias palm oil export earnings posted a value of RM71.3 billion with RM73 billion targeted for 2013. Government linked Sime Darby Berhad has 54,278 hectares of plantations while Felda has some 306,000 acres in Sabah. Many public listed plantation companies have most of their plantations in Sabah. Even YayasanMelakaandYayasanSelangorhavepalmoilplantationsinSabah! WhetheritisRM4billionorRM40billion,Sabahisstillentitledtoitslegitimate40%share! Even assuming the lower figure, 40% of RM4 billion will increase Sabahs budget by RM1.6 billion, a whopping43%increase,andwhichwillhelptheSabahgovernmentandcontributetothewellbeing ofSabahans. ../2

2 The issue of linking this 40% entitlement with federal allocations is fully of idiocy and stupidity. Firstly, it shows that Sabah BN leaders do not prioritize Sabah but the federal/BN government, secondly,thattheyarenotactinginthebestinterestsofSabahandSabahans.Thirdly,itseemsthat they are more interested in bowing to their political masters from Malaya and protecting their partys interests and their interests and positions which will be jeopardized if they go against the wish of their political masters and finally, they are just accepting whatever is being shaft down their throatswithoutthinkingandevaluatingwhatneedstobedonefromtheperspectiveofSabah. It also lends credence to the saying by people that Sabah BN leaders are remotecontrolled by their mastersinKualaLumpur/Putrajaya. Its just over 1 month after being elected by Sabahans in the general elections and the Sabah BN leaders are already forgetting about the interests of Sabah and its people. The people should seriouslywhethertheseleadersoughttocontinuetorepresentthemorbebootedout. On the other hand, the Sabah BN leaders also fail to recognize that it is the duty and responsibility that the federal government to raise and provide development allocations. Tiny Perlis and other States without much revenue are still entitled to its development allocations but it does mean that Sabahshouldbedeprivedoftheirallocations. If the federal government feels that Sabah is a liability and is so difficult to reimburse Sabahs entitlement and also to provide development allocations, it should just allow Sabah to go free and allowSabahtomanageitsownrevenueandresources.ThereisnoinpointkeepingSabahwhichisa burdengiventhatthefederalgovernmenthasgotanationaldebtinexcessofRM508billion. DatukDr.JeffreyKitingan Chairman,STARSabah 23June2013