» »Unlabelled » 'Exemption of GST in Sabah 'non-negotiable' - The Borneo Post Online Berita Sabah - News 2 Sabah

11:33:00

&#39;Exemption of GST in <b>Sabah</b> &#39;non-negotiable&#39; - The Borneo Post Online Berita Sabah - News 2 Sabah

&#39;Exemption of GST in <b>Sabah</b> &#39;non-negotiable&#39; - The Borneo Post Online

Posted: 10 Feb 2014 10:11 AM PST

KOTA KINABALU: The support for the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Sabah needs to be 're-examined' by the Sabahan government leaders.

State Reform Party (Star) Sabah chief Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan made this call in response to Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman's statement that the government is supporting the implementation of GST in Sabah.

"The Sabah government leaders need to have their heads examined for wrongly supporting the implementation of GST in Sabah without considering the rights of Sabah and the welfare of Sabahans," he said according to a press statement released yesterday.

"The best formula for Sabah and Sabahans is still the exemption of GST in Sabah. By right, this should be the only and 'non-negotiable' option to be adopted by the Sabah government if they are genuinely looking after the interests of Sabah and Sabahans," said Jeffrey, who is also Bingkor assemblyman.

Jeffrey pointed out that it was agreed during the formation of Malaysia in 1963 that Sabah will have control of its own finances, tariffs and development funds.

"Point No 11 of the 20-Point Agreement states that North Borneo (Sabah) should have control of its own finance, development funds and tariffs.

"The sovereign right to impose sales tax was subsequently incorporated in Article 95B (3) of the Federal Constitution, and it is deemed to be a matter under the State List under the 9th Schedule and not under the Federal List," Jeffrey said.

Article 95B(3) of the Federal Constitution states: "The Legislature of the State of Sabah or Sarawak may also make laws for imposing sales tax, and any sales tax imposed by State law in the State of Sabah and Sarawak shall be deemed to be among the matters enumerated in the State List and not in the Federal List; but (a) There shall not in the charging or administration of a State sales tax be discrimination between the goods of the same description according to the place in which they originate; and (b) The charge for any federal sales tax shall be met out of sums collected from a person liable for that tax before the charge for a State sales tax.

"There are no two ways about it. Sabah government needs to work towards a plan to secure exemption of GST in Sabah.

"Sabahans are already the poorest in Malaysia. The Sabah government needs to take every action to safeguard the interests of Sabahans, who are not ready for GST, and Sabah has the sovereign right to collect sales tax in Sabah and should not abrogate or sub-contract this right.

"As it is, Sabahans are losing more than RM40 billion in revenue annually to the federal government and Petronas," Jeffrey said, adding that if the federal government still wished to impose GST in Sabah then there would be no option but to take the federal government to court and declare GST as unconstitutional.

Print Friendly

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.

8 cases of Influenza A H1N1 detected in <b>Sabah</b> – BorneoPost <b>...</b>

Posted: 06 Feb 2014 09:49 AM PST

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Health Department has confirmed that eight cases of Influenza A H1N1 were detected in the state this month.

Its director, Dr Christina Rundi said seven of the cases were detected at Wad Melur 2 of the Sabah Women and Children's Hospital here while the other in Sandakan.

"The Sabah Health Department received a report on the cases at the Sabah Women and Children's Hospital on Feb 3. Screening was done on 30 people suspected to have been exposed, from it (screening), 10 Nasopharyngeal Aspirate Respiratory Syncytial Virus (NPA RSV) samples were taken for the testing.

"The results confirmed seven cases were positive for A H1N1. The patients showed cough, fever and flu symptoms. The patients were five children and two adults. All of them are receiving treatment and are in stable condition.

Dr Christina said among the immediate measures taken by the department the moment the cases were confirmed as A H1NI were giving anti-virus shots to the infected patients, expanding the screening process to all who had been contact with them, and disinfecting the ward.

She said the ward concerned had also been isolated, screening of staff done with those (staff) found to be ill asked to go home apart from promoting awareness on precautions to be taken by the people should they show influenza-like-illness (ILI) symptoms.

Dr Christina said facemasks were also supplied to the H1N1 patients as well as the staff and visitors besides emphasising hand hygiene.

She said an operations room was activated at the hospital on Feb 4 to contain the situation and prevent it from spreading.

"H1N1 is endemic in Sabah and cases are reported each year. The H1N1 situation at the Sabah Women and Children's Hospital is under control. Control and prevention measures have and are being taken," she said.

Meanwhile, Christina said each year, H1N1 cases were reported in Sabah and in 2009, 944 cases were recorded which was a prevalency rate (PR) of 30.81 per 100,000 residents.

However, the figures dropped to 145 cases (PR 4.43) in 2010, 26 cases (PR 0.79) in 2011, 15 cases (PR 0.46) in 2012 and 6 cases (PR 0.16)lastyear. — Bernama

Print Friendly

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.

Ex-DCM Tham applauds Yahya&#39;s stand on use of &#39;Allah <b>...</b>

Posted: 06 Feb 2014 04:31 PM PST

KOTA KINABALU: Whatever may be said about the row over the word "Allah" in Malaysia, in Sabah the controversy has elicited a heartening response from the people.

Muslims have joined Christians in the state in support of their use of the word they both use for God, noted former Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Tham Nyip Shen.

He emphasized this remarkable spirit of tolerance when he applauded Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Yahya Hussin for showing Malaysian leaders in the peninsula that the people of Sabah are united with one voice when it comes to the Almighty.

"This type of outlook will guarantee continued peace and harmony among the multi-racial, multi-religious people of Sabah," the now retired politician said in a statement yesterday.

"I am sure such a statement by a government leader is fully appreciated by the people of Sabah," Tham added.

Yahya was reported Wednesday as saying that it did not matter to him that non-Muslims were using the word 'Allah" in their worship.

He said the belligerent stance "by others" was not a civilised or enlightened way of dealing with such things.

Tham said that for the state No. 2 leader to say that it was no big deal if Christians in the state used the word "Allah" to refer to their God should inspire both Christians and Muslims elsewhere to grasp the idea that rising religious tensions that are founded on such issues are absurd.

The former DCM also supported Yahya, his former colleague in the state cabinet, in urging the people in Peninsular Malaysia to emulate Sabahan Muslims who do not take offence if non-Muslims use the word "Tuhan" or "Allah" in calling "God" in their worship.

"This brave and open statement should be supported by all the other Sabah Cabinet Ministers," he said.

Tham said that there were other more pressing problems faced by the people and the quarrel over "what to call God" was something best left to individual worshippers.

Yahya's statement on the issue came as a reassurance by the state government following Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman's declaration in the State Legislative Assembly last year that the state government has no problem with the Catholic Church in Sabah using the word "Allah" in its Bahasa Malaysia publication of the mission's monthly newspaper, The Catholic Sabah.

Musa said this was the policy of the state government on the matter and cemented the assurance by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak on Oct 21 last year that Christians in Sabah and Sarawak can use the word "Allah".

Najib's assurance came after the Court of Appeal ruling on October 14 that the word was reserved strictly for Muslims.

Musa's statement on the issue was made in a written reply to a question posed by Tamparuli assemblyman Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Bumburing during the recent State Legislative Assembly sitting.

The opposition lawmaker had asked what the Sabah government's stand on the use of the word by the Catholic Sabah newspaper after the Court of Appeal banned The Herald, the national Catholic publication, from printing the word "Allah".

The Sarawak state government's view of the issue is in tandem with that of Sabah.

Print Friendly

To enable your comment to be published, please refrain from vulgar language, insidious, seditious or slanderous remarks. This includes vulgar user names.