KOTA KINABALU, June 14 — The Sabah state government shares the same stand as Sarawak in the state’s opposition to the tourism tax and will seek an amicable solution with Putrajaya, Sabah’s Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said.

Masidi said that Sabah, like Sarawak, was not agreeable to the proposal since it was first mooted last year, with the subsequent enactment of the law, and claimed to have had made their stand clear.

“Sabah shares the same view with Sarawak that there have been little or no consultations with the state governments of Sabah and Sarawak prior to the enactment of the law on tourism tax.

“Sabah will continue to work with Sarawak to find common grounds in our engagement with the federal government in our endeavour to find fair solutions to the issue,” said Masidi in a statement here, in answer to accusations that Sabah did not object to the proposed tax.

Masidi clarified that Sabah had objected to the proposal and informed the relevant authority at the federal level accordingly after the tourism tax was proposed by the federal Tourism and Culture ministry last year.

He had cited that it was not right for Sabah’s tourism industry that was just recovering from a slump following security breaches in the east coast and an earthquake which hit Mount Kinabalu.

“Nevertheless the federal government proceeded to enact law known as Tourism Tax Act 2017 to impose levy (tourism tax) on all tourists which was passed by Dewan Rakyat recently,” he said, adding that the passage of the Act “has created new dynamics and a new challenge” for Sabah.

He also noted that the withdrawal of Sarawak’s representative from the Board of Directors of the Malaysia Tourism Board (MTB) had been wrongly interpreted by some as opting out of the tourism tax regime, with many calling for Sabah to follow suit.

“Withdrawal from MTB does not equal to opting out of the provisions of the new Act nor does it amount to rejecting it,” he said.

However, the state is still scheduled to meet, discuss and decide on their stand on the Tourism Tax Act 2017 in the Cabinet meeting next week, after studying the mechanism and disbursement of the tax.

The controversial Tourism Tax Bill was passed with a majority in the Dewan Rakyat on April 5 at about 5am and in Dewan Negara on April 27.

Most Sabah and Sarawak MPs did not register their objections during that time.

The tourism tax issue recently sparked a verbal war between federal tourism minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz and Sarawak Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, after the former chided the latter over his objection to the tax, labelling him a rookie politician and asking him not to behave like a “gangster”.

Abdul Karim had urged the federal government to defer the July 1 implementation of the tourism tax for Sarawak and Sabah and that it must respect the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

Sabahan federal ministers Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan and Datuk Anifah Aman joined the fray and urged more tact and diplomacy from the federal government when dealing with Sabah and Sarawak.