KUCHING, Dec. 14 -- The Sarawak government will not consider buying stakes in Petroliam Nasional Berhad's (Petronas) assets in the state's territorial waters, Law, State-Relations and Projects Monitoring Assistant Minister Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali said last night.

She said there is nothing to be happy about with the offer mentioned by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad that the federal government intended to sell stakes in Petronas to Sarawak and Sabah.

"Oil and gas resources are ours and why should we pay for it, even 1 per cent stake would cost us billions," she said in a briefing to a group of professionals and businessmen here.

Hasidah also said the state government has rejected zero-rating the State Sales Tax...