A stand-off is brewing between peninsular Malaysia, and East Malaysia over a new tourism tax intended to by implemented 1 July.
Two weeks ago, Putrajaya shocked many Malaysian’s by informing citizens and tourists alike that they would be subject to a hotel room tax starting next month. The fee will see an additional RM2.50 (US$0.47) to RM25 (US$5.86) added onto your hotel bill. East Malaysia, the states of Sarawak and Sabah, quickly called foul, and said that this violated the terms of the Malaysia Agreement 1963, which guaranteed that Borneo state-interests were to be protected. Local ministers from the state say that this will negatively impact travel to East Malaysian.
‘Fight the Power!’, cried netizens, proud of our emboldened Borneo statesmen.
Until you learn that, in fact, this was not a new legislation, but something that was proposed in Parliament way back when on 4 April. It passed 27 April with only one MP, Darell Leiking (of neither Sarawak, nor Sabah) arguing against it. It took less than 60 minutes to ratify, and only Senator Dr Zaiedi Suhaili of Sarawak asked whether Sarawak could be exempted. He was told no, and the bill was passed.
When Sarawak Tourism Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah asked why none of his MPs contested, some hinted that the late-night hour the bill was passed, nearly 5:00am, could have contributed law’s approval (aka, while you were sleeping, we introduced a new tax).
This does little to diminish the impression to many East Malaysians that the federal government is again enforcing unfair taxes on them, and questions over where the returns of the tax are going have been raised. Will the funds be funneled back into each state, or will they get lost along the way, and end up in the federal government’s coffers?
And what of areas like Penang, Melaka, Kota Baru, and Langkawi, who already have their own hotel tax? How will the two be differentiated?
Just when everyone was wondering, ‘and then what?’ Sarawak promptly pulled out of the Malaysia Tourism Board and issued this letter:
Of special mention is the part where they call Tourism Malaysia more irrelevant than Mischa Barton telling you she can’t come to your party, because like, who is that even anyway?
“The state government deems that the participation of its representatives in Tourism Malaysia is not necessary as this is duplicating the role and functions of the Sarawak Tourism Promotion Board.”
Basically, a borderline diplomatic, quite direct, way of telling Putrajaya to go fly a kite.
Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz retaliated by implying that Karim Rahman was a political amateur, and behaving “like a gangster.” Sorry, Nazri, but I think all of Sarawak just took that as a compliment.
So far, no one is backing down. Sabah stands with their Borneo neighbor, saying they were not consulted over the matter before the law was ratified, and will continue to “work with” their neighbor to find a resolution.
Stay tuned folks: two weeks to go to find out who Malaysia’s real G is.
