I was surprised this week to read an article quoting a Sarawakian elected representative who took the trouble to defend the federal government and the national oil and gas company for their meagre contribution to the state against the oil and gas extracted in Sarawak.
The PKR MP appeared to blame those who are vocal in fighting for a better return on Sarawak’s oil and gas rights, saying it should be “based on truth rather than distorted facts”. This is a bitter pill for Sarawakians to swallow.
For years, we understood that Sarawak has only been receiving a 5 percent oil royalty, meaning the other 95 percent was retained by the federal government and the national oil-and-gas company. Why is this suddenly disputed?
Former state attorney-general Dato Sri JC Fong recently stated that about 95 percent of revenue generated from Sarawak’s oil and gas resources has gone to PETRONAS, with the Bornean state only receiving RM49 billion in cash payments between 1975 and 2024 under the 5 percent royalty arrangement.
This aligns with an earlier article quoting Sarawak’s de facto law minister Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, who said only about RM33 billion (5 percent) was returned to Sarawak from 1976 to 2017 against a total revenue of RM660 billion by PETRONAS since the national oil and gas company began extracting oil and gas in Sarawak.
The question that needs answering is whether there are any extra payments under the royalty arrangement that the PKR MP knows of, but we – the Sarawakians – are not privy to. If not, his rebuttal sounds hollow, desperate, and questionable.
To say that offshore exploration up to the production stage typically consumes between 70 percent and 80 percent of total oil and gas revenue, justifying Sarawak’s smaller share, is incredibly tone-deaf.
He also argued about the “enormous business risks” in oil and gas, where the commercial success rates for offshore exploration wells are only around 20 to 25 percent. “This means the national oil company absorbs the full cost of failed wells and commercially non-viable discoveries without passing the burden to the states,” he said in his press statement.
To this, I say: YB, you are supposed to fight for Sarawak – demanding that the state be given a more equitable share of the revenues derived from its oil and gas resources.
The statement reads like one written for a major oil company spokesperson, not an elected representative who is supposed to represent the people. It is mind-boggling to hear a Sarawakian – an elected representative, no less – so adamant at trying to appease the national oil and gas company and the federal government by arguing why Sarawak doesn’t deserve a bigger share of revenues.
I expected this argument from individuals like former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, or even Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who was a former PETRONAS chairman.
This was part of the campaign not to kill golden geese that the Malaya-based media actively promoted when Sarawak pushed for PETROS to act as a gas aggregator.
Even the current federal government – the Prime Minister and the present leadership of the national oil and gas company – are wary of making such statements due to the sensitivities involved. Imagine the backlash and dialogues that it will trigger.
Yet here we are with a Sarawakian who is happily doing their bidding.
I understand that this party, particularly its Sarawak chapter, has never been positioned to fight for a larger share of oil and gas revenues for Sarawak, but even the Sarawak DAP, its fellow component party, has been more cautious in its position on the matter.
It must be said: The disenchantment regarding the exploitation of Sarawak’s oil and gas resources has been brewing for some time, and the development gap has been a sore point.
The Sarawak government, in its efforts to bridge the development gap and reclaim oil and gas revenues through State Sales Tax (SST) and other mechanisms, requires public support.
They have done well in fighting for Sarawak’s rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), IGC Report, and the Federal Constitution. However, parties actively trying to undermine Sarawak’s oil and gas struggles by distorting facts for political gains do not help.
The federal government, despite its faults, has been accommodating and willing to listen. Of course, they have their own positions on these matters, as does the Sarawak government.
However, issuing one-sided statements that muddy the waters and invite criticisms is most unfortunate. In the fight to assert Sarawak’s oil and gas rights, unity is paramount – only when united can we prevail.
The views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of Sarawak Tribune. The writer can be reached at nazmixsuhaimi@gmail.com.
