SARAWAK will again invoke its rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 to have a representative from the state or Sabah sit on the Inland Revenue Board, Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg said last night.

He told community leaders and guests at a “people-meet-their-leaders” dinner in Miri that it is a right that Sarawak had overlooked.

“It’s there in the IGC report,” he said in reference to the Report of the Inter-Governmental Committee, 1962.

“What’s in the IGC must be honoured. The only thing is we all forgot about it. Now I promise you I will fight for it,” he said.

Abang Johari said having a representative from Sarawak on the board is a checks and balances issue – for Sarawak and Sabah to have detailed knowledge of revenue collected from taxes in the two Borneo territories.

The chief minister said, at present, there are no representatives from either Sabah or Sarawak sitting on the IRB management board.

“If none of us are in there, then we won’t know how much revenue came from Sarawak.

“On the other hand, if we know the actual figures, then we can demand for (the right) portion, which they (IRB) have collected from Sarawak to be given back to us.

Abang Johari said it was important for Sarawak to know how much the federal government had collected from Sarawak.

“We must not let them have all of it for themselves.”

He said the issue was crucial.

He said the demand for a place on the board could be a fight akin to the state sales tax on petroleum products fought with Petronas.

Abang Johari said if Sarawak had not overlooked its right to collect taxes from gas products, the state “would have a lot more money to develop itself”.

He said since the state started collecting the taxes three years ago, the amount had come to a total of RM7 billion.

“That’s an extra revenue.”

He said the extra billions was the reason why he was bold enough to commit the government to building costly projects like the coastal highway, taking over the building of bridges on the highway that had been abandoned by the Pakatan Harapan government and water projects in water-stressed areas of the state.

He said the water projects were already costing the state government RM4 billion. – November 25, 2021.