By Clement Stanley

Last night, I tuned in to TV 1 to listen to our newly minted Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

While the challenges ahead of him and the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government are indeed colossal, it will be a case of when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

If I had the opportunity to call in and speak to the honourable minister, I would have asked him one question on the lips of my fellow Sabahans.

If the federal government is in need of extra revenue, why not introduce a gaming tax of 10% on punters who visit the 4D outlets of Magnum, Sports Toto and Da Ma Cai in Peninsular Malaysia?

Punters in Sabah cannot understand the difference in the way we are taxed 15% extra for every ticket we buy while our fellow punters in Peninsular Malaysia escape this gaming tax.

Sarawakians are taxed 10%.

I don’t believe it is a case of different strokes for different folks.

But I do believe that the time is nigh for streamlining and exercising fairness in such policy matters that affect us Sabahans.

While we acknowledge that the gaming tax comes under the purview of the respective state governments of Sabah and Sarawak, there should not be any reason why the governments at state level cannot review this policy. On the other hand, if the objective is to raise funds for the federal coffers, such a move should be seen in a positive light.

The new finance minister once said in a clip I saw that Sabah and Sarawak are equal partners with Malaya and not one of the states under Malaysia.

He acknowledged this fact, as did other politicians who bombarded us with the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) that said we were equal partners in the formation of Malaysia. Shouldn’t they now walk the talk on something as simple as this?

Either introduce this gaming tax for the 4D operators in Peninsular Malaysia, or cancel such taxes for the people of Sabah and Sarawak.

If this principle can be applied to something as simple as the gaming tax, it can also apply to our health services in Sabah since we now have a new ministry here: the ministry of health and people’s wellbeing.

The list of ways to be fair and just, including the issue of minimum wage in Sabah, can go on and on. But really, it will amount to nothing if you do not walk the talk. There has to be a strong political will in whatever you undertake.

Let’s not have any more rhetoric and lip service. As Nike says: just do it.

Clement Stanley is an FMT reader.

The views expressed by the writer are not necessarily those of FMT.