KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 — Barisan Nasional ministers from Sarawak are obliged to support the ruling administration’s proposed laws, said a minister from the state after a Cabinet colleague questioned their previous silence on the Tourism Tax Act.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar explained that this was consistent with the principle of collective responsibility practised among Commonwealth states.
“We Sarawakian MPs (who) are ministers cannot speak against the government’s Bill (Tourism Tax Bill),” he was quoted as saying by the Borneo Post news portal.
“If you want to know why Sarawakian MPs did not voice out against the Bill, you will have to ask MPs who do not have any ministerial post.”
Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz previously asked ministers and lawmakers from Sarawak why they did not contest the tourism tax when it was raised in both the Cabinet and tabled in Parliament.
Aside from Wan Junaidi, Sarawak Tourism Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah also pointed out that the Bill had been tabled in a Parliament sitting that had extended into predawn hours.
Abdul Karim previously urged the federal government to defer the implementation of the tourism tax for Sabah and Sarawak, saying Putrajaya must respect the Malaysia Agreement 1963 in the matter.
This led to Nazri mocking the Sarawak minister’s experience and warning the latter not to behave “like a gangster” over the matter.
The exchange led to several BN ministers criticising Nazri, but the latter has refused to back down, insisting that Abdul Karim insulted him first.
The tax will be introduced on July 1 at a rate of between RM2.50 and RM25 per room right at hotels in the country.
