Sabah Infrastructure Development Minister Peter Anthony noted that the state government, led by Chief Minister Shafie Apdal, had from the start fought for the return of rights.

He noted that Masing, who he described as the “naughty boy” of the Sarawak Cabinet, had been seen fishing for cheap publicity lately.

The Kadazan Dusun Murut leader said Masing had been doing so to cover up the weaknesses of his party, Parti Rakyat Sarawak, which would be facing the state polls soon.

“Maybe there are differences between the way Sabah and Sarawak are finding resolutions to the MA63.

“But MA63 should not be made a reason to gain political mileage or to pit one leader against another in Sabah and Sarawak.

“The ties between leaders from both states have always been good and should not be questioned or disturbed,” he said.

A Sarawak news portal had quoted Masing as saying Sabah leaders are taking a “wait and see attitude” and wanted them to “stand like a man” and not “ride on Sarawak’s coat tails all the time”.

Masing said this following a letter, purportedly with the Sabah government letterhead, on the imposition of 5% sales tax on petroleum products, distributed to several oil and gas firms operating in Sabah.

Masing felt that Sabah was riding on the hard work of Sarawak, which had gone through the courts to uphold the right to impose tax on petroleum products in the High Court.

Anthony advised Masing to stop being used by certain parties who may be bent on seeing the Sabah-Sarawak ties damaged.

“All this while, no top leader from Sabah or Sarawak has questioned the way each other is running state affairs.

“What Masing did should be stopped immediately and he should apologise to the Sabah government,” he said.

On Sabah imposing 5% sales tax on petroleum products, Anthony said the amendment to Section 4 of the Land Ordinance in 2018 had allowed Sabah to collect the necessary levy.

He also noted that it was Sabah that had fought for MA63 in Parliament.