FINANCE Minister Lim Guan Eng said today he would join Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in China if the opposition would promise not to sabotage the tabling of the Sales and Services Tax (SST) Bill to be passed by the senate on Monday.

Lim said contrary to Umno secretary-general Annuar Musa’s assertion that he had been left out of the trip, he was staying behind to see through the government’s efforts to pass the bill.

Annuar had earlier asked if Lim had been excluded from the China trip due to his orders to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to raid China-owned companies in Malaysia. 

“On Monday, I have to be in the senate to ensure the (SST) bill will be passed. It the bill is not passed, it will affect revenue. This is important,” Lim told the Dewan Rakyat today. 

Lim warned the opposition not to sabotage the bill to gain political mileage and to support it for the sake of Malaysians.

“If it is not passed, the country’s revenue will be affected and we will have a deficit. This should not happen. 

“Will the opposition give a guarantee, that they will support the SST in senate?”

Umno’s Tanjung Karang MP Noh Omar shot back with the response that Lim was talking about events that had not occurred.

“The Dewan Negara has not even begun. Why do you make the presumption that the members of the senate would reject (the bill)?” he said. 

Lim said could not state for sure what “trickery” Barisan Nasional would get up to except that it wished to sabotage the country’s economy. 

“There is a clear motive. We will be prepared,” he said. 

PH’s seven senators are outnumbered by BN’s 28 in the 55-seat Dewan Negara. – August 13, 2018.