Give Sabah, Sarawak power to directly appoint LHDN reps, says MP

 

In October, the Cabinet agreed to amend the LHDN Act to allow Sabah and Sarawak representatives to sit on the board.

KUALA LUMPUR: A Warisan MP has urged the government to give the Sabah and Sarawak governments the authority to appoint their representatives to the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) directly.

Currently, the two states propose their candidates for the positions to the finance ministry.

Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis (Warisan-Kota Belud) told the Dewan Rakyat that the authority given to the finance ministry was not stated in the 1962 Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) report.

“This is new and does not align with the IGC report.

“The Borneon states should have the power to appoint their own consultants to represent them on the LHDN board of directors,” she said while debating the Malaysian Inland Revenue Board (Amendment) Bill 2023.

The bill aims to amend Section 6 of the LHDN Act 1995 to allow for the appointment of representatives from Sabah and Sarawak to the board by the finance minister.

The two East Malaysian states named their proposed representatives for the LHDN board in July 2022. The Cabinet agreed to amend the LHDN Act three months later to allow the representatives to sit on the board.

Meanwhile, in replying to points raised, deputy finance minister Ahmad Maslan took a swipe at MPs who criticised the bill in the Dewan Rakyat but failed to attend a briefing on the matter on Monday.

“It’s not that we did not engage MPs on the bill. They should have been present when the briefing was held,” he said, adding that he did not see Isnaraissah and other MPs who debated the bill at the briefing.

Isnaraissah then clarified that she did attend the meeting, but was late. To this, Ahmad replied that she should have come on time if she found the bill important.

The vote on the bill has been postponed to the next Dewan Rakyat meeting. - FMT