Dr Ting to cooperate with police on woman’s report
MIRI : Pujut assemblyman Dr Ting Tiong Choon said he is prepared to cooperate with the police regarding a report that was lodged against him by a Pujut voter late Tuesday evening.
In the report, a 33-year- old woman claimed that she felt cheated as a voter in Pujut by Dr Ting for his allegedly having dual citizenships, namely Australian and Malaysian, while contesting as a DAP candidate in the last state election.
“I am prepared to cooperate with the police. But for that to happen, the identity of the person who lodged the report must first be disclosed,” Ting told reporters at a press conference here yesterday.
State DAP secretary Alan Ling Sie Kiong who was also present supported Dr Ting’s stand, calling for the identity of the person who lodged the report to be made known.
“We have the right to know who lodged the report against Dr Ting. We are prepared to cooperate but the identity of the person must be disclosed,” he said.
I am prepared to cooperate with the police. But for that to happen, the identity of the person who lodged the report must first be disclosed. Dr Ting Tiong Choon, Pujut assemblyman
However, Dr Ting said until press time yesterday, the police had not contacted him on the matter.
Meanwhile, touching on the tourism tax which will be implemented next month, Dr Ting said the new tax is another scheme to ‘scoop’ more money from the public.
“The hastiness of the passing in parliament and super- fast implementation indicates that the government’s coffer is not getting incomes as proposed in Budget 2017, and so the need to generate more income from all possible sources, from the public,” he claimed.
He said that the implementation of Tourism Tax two years after GST was putting more burden on the public and chaotic as there was no proper implementation strategies, no details of the implementation and no agreement between Sabah, Sarawak and the federal government.
Dr Ting noted that a Chinese daily yesterday reported that the Sabah government had not agreed on the implementation of the Tourism Tax, while the State Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said Sarawak had agreed and that all the tax would be equally divided between Sabah, Sarawak and the federal government.
He said the news were conflicting and it showed that there was no agreement between the states and federal government, hence the implementation of the tax should be deferred.
“In view of this, I would like to call on the state government to defer the Tourism tax which is scheduled to start next week.
“It is scheduled to commence in one week time, and obviously, the hoteliers are not ready to implement the policy,” he said.