Why didn't S'wak, Sabah ministers oppose tax in cabinet, DAP asks
Sarawak and Sabah DAP have questioned why federal ministers from the two states had not opposed the incoming tourism tax in the cabinet or at Parliament.
Sarawak DAP secretary Alan Ling and his Sabah counterpart Chan Foong Hin said each state had six full ministers each, who could have said something in the cabinet.
"Did they say no to Najib and Nazri when it was proposed to implement a new tourism tax by the federal government?
"Were they all sleeping during the legislative process?" Ling and Chan said in a joint statement today.
They then challenged Sarawak and Sabah BN to pass resolutions in their respective state assemblies, to demand Putrajaya return tourism related powers to the states.
The tourism tax had come into the spotlight after Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz clashed with Sarawak Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah...
Sarawak and Sabah DAP have questioned why federal ministers from the two states had not opposed the incoming tourism tax in the cabinet or at Parliament.
Sarawak DAP secretary Alan Ling and his Sabah counterpart Chan Foong Hin said each state had six full ministers each, who could have said something in the cabinet.
"Did they say no to Najib and Nazri when it was proposed to implement a new tourism tax by the federal government?
"Were they all sleeping during the legislative process?" Ling and Chan said in a joint statement today.
They then challenged Sarawak and Sabah BN to pass resolutions in their respective state assemblies, to demand Putrajaya return tourism related powers to the states.
The tourism tax had come into the spotlight after Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz clashed with Sarawak Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
Nazri had called Abdul Karim a political greenhorn and a thug after the latter called for the tax to be deferred.
Nazri's response had been criticised by his cabinet counterparts, Works Minister Fadillah Yusof who is from Sarawak, and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan who is from Sabah.
Ling and Chang said the spat between Nazri and Sarawak BN was just a political stunt.
"The move by Sarawak BN to act 'boldly' to confront the federal minister (Nazri) is nothing more than a well designed and scripted wayang kulit (shadow play) to drum up (support) for a BN victory in the Pujut by-election.
"Sarawak BN would play up the 'Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia) hatred' sentiment and then maliciously label us (DAP) once and again as the 'Malayan party' in the by-election," they said.
However, the duo noted that unlike Sabah and Sarawak BN who did not speak "even a word", DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and organising secretary Anthony Loke had opposed the tourism tax in Parliament.
Nomination day for the Pujut by-election is on June 20, with polling on July 4.
The Pujut seat was vacated after DAP's Dr Ting Tiong Choon was disqualified as the state assemblyperson on May 12 for allegedly having Australian citizenship.
