KUCHING: Political analyst, Prof. Dr James Chin, has questioned Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s sincerity towards Sabah and Sarawak.
If the former prime minister truly cared about the Bornean states, Chin wondered why he did not build the iconic PETRONAS Twin Towers in Kuching or Kota Kinabalu.
“I have a simple question. Mahathir claims the British took all the money and didn’t build the PETRONAS Twin Towers.
“But if he truly cared about Sabah and Sarawak, why weren’t the towers built in Kuching or Kota Kinabalu (KK)? Why wasn’t PETRONAS headquartered in KK or Kuching?
“After all, one tower was funded by Sarawak’s oil and gas, and the other by Sabah’s,” he said in a Facebook post today.
Chin, who is a professor of Asian Studies at the University of Tasmania, Australia, was responding to Dr Mahathir’s remarks where he was quoted as saying that Sarawak’s push for oil and gas control within the state territory will have a negative impact on the nation and its economy.
The former two-time prime minister also commented, “When Sarawak was under British rule, did they build the Twin Towers? They were very poor. The British took all their money.”
Chin claimed Dr Mahathir believed in centralising power, and that during his tenure, the latter had treated Sabah and Sarawak poorly, viewing them merely as fixed deposits for Barisan Nasional (BN).
“He saw Sabahans and Sarawakians as passive and loyal supporters, which allowed him to act with little accountability and no regard for Borneo,” he said.
He also slammed Dr Mahathir’s lack of support to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) during his 2018 premiership, where the latter’s administration offered only minor administrative adjustments and devolved limited authority back to Kota Kinabalu and Kuching.
Dr Mahathir was unwilling to even discuss anything to do with oil and gas, he added.
“Am I wrong to say that for over 50 years, PETRONAS and the federal government have treated Sabah and Sarawak’s oil and gas as a piggybank? How much longer are we expected to wait? Another 50 years until the resources runs dry?” Chin asked.
He further said Malaysians must not listen to Dr Mahathir, claiming that the latter believed Sabahans and Sarawakians should remain subservient to Malaya.
“This is wrong on every level,” said Chin.
