Sabah Sarawak Must Act as One on Oil Actions

On 14 June 1976, Sabah made its first contribution of RM380 million to Petronas and the federal government in 1976 alone. In return, Sabah only received a miserable and paltry RM20 million for its oil and gas in 1976..

Kota Kinabalu: “The leaders of the oil producing states, particularly Sabah and Sarawak, should synchronise their actions and act as one on the “oil royalty” issue to strengthen their case for a better deal on their oil resources” said Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, STAR Sabah Chief and the Assemblyman for Bingkor, commenting on the parliamentary motion tabled by the Kuching MP from DAP to increase the oil royalty to 20% from the current 5%.

The lawmakers of Sarawak have stated their unequivocal stand on their oil resources and the oil cash payment issue now moves to the federal parliament at the forthcoming session starting 9th June 2014.

The Sarawak Council Negeri started the ball rolling with the passage of the motion by a unanimous 71-0 vote seeking the increase of the “oil royalty” to 20%. The move is made more significant as it was debated and passed on a motion tabled by Sarawak BN although the opposition Sarawak DAP had submitted a similar motion.

The DAP parliamentary motion is now enhanced by the reply of PM Najib at the Malaysia Gawai Dayak Open House in Miri that the federal government will give utmost consideration to Sarawak’s request for higher oil and gas royalties in response to CM Adenan’s speech request for higher oil royalties.

"While I would have preferred to see a joint action between Sabah and Sarawak to review the oil deal in toto with the return of oil ownership rights to all the oil producing states, including Terengganu and Kelantan, this motion is an incremental step in the right direction” stressed Dr. Jeffrey.

“I am optimistic and believe the oil actions initiated by Sarawak lawmakers can lead to a review of the oil rights of Sabah and Sarawak given the right strategy and circumstances" added Dr. Jeffrey, who has been a strong advocate for the restoration of the Borneo States' rights including the return of oil ownership.

Special mention need to be given to the DAP Kuching MP for being a true and patriotic Sarawakian unreservedly seeking Sarawak’s rights and being brave to table the motion for debate in the coming Parliament session.

Dr. Jeffrey also said that besides increasing the cash payments (what has been widely referred to as oil royalty), the Sabah and Sarawak governments should also open discussions on ownership rights as well as shareholding stakes in Petronas for all the 4 oil producing States.

Petronas would not be what it is today, a Fortune 500 company, if not for the oil revenues contributed by the oil producing states.

When the Sabah Chief Minister was made to sign what should be the “Oil Surrender Agreement” on 14 June 1976, Sabah made its first contribution of RM380 million to Petronas and the federal government in 1976 alone. In return, Sabah only received a miserable and paltry RM20 million for its oil and gas in 1976.

It is encouraging to see the Sarawak government finally taking a decisive step towards reclaiming their rights and the opposition representatives voting in tandem in the common interest of Sarawak.

This was in sharp contrast to Sabah where a similar motion to review the Petroleum Agreement was rejected outright! In fact, even a mention of such a review by the Assemblyman from Bingkor was arrogantly brushed aside by an emotionally charged Chief Minister!

“This is the difference between Sabah, ruled by UMNO, and Sarawak, ruled by their own political parties”, said Dr. Jeffrey.

The world is now watching the next moves by the Sabah government and its lawmakers, particularly the leaders of Sabah Umno in relation to the oil royalty/ownership issue.

Will they seek to regain Sabah’s oil and act in tandem with the Sarawak government or condemn Sabah’s future generations to unwarranted poverty?

As it is now, for rejecting the motion on the oil issue, the people are already judging the people behind the rejection as traitors of Sabah. In time to come, the actions of the Sabah BN leaders will be judged by history.

If the federal government and Petronas do not listen to the views of the people of the Borneo States on the oil royalty/ownership rights, the Sabah and Sarawak lawmakers should make it expressly and unequivocally clear that they will abandon the BN mothership and if need be, to pull out of the Federation, which is the wish of a slight majority of the people.

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