Sarawak Governor Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud today urged Sarawakians to support the state government’s efforts to reclaim their rights enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
He said he believed that a delegation led by Chief Minister Datuk Abang Johari Openg will continue to take the interests and the development of the state into account in the negotiation to reclaim the rights from Putrajaya.
“The negotiation for the return of the rights, which have been eroded, needs to be carried out with the federal government through a correct channel,” he said at the opening of the Sarawak Legislative Assembly’s session here….
On the enforcement of Oil Mining Ordinance 1958 and Gas Distribution Ordinance 2016, the governor said it will help to further boost the state’s revenue for the benefit of the people.
He said the state government has taken a bold step to introduce a 5 per cent sales tax on the export of petroleum and petroleum products, which is expected to generate about RM3.8 billion revenue this year.
No greater ‘erosion of rights’ of Sarawakians has taken place than the crooked Petroleum Act of 1974 negotiated by this Chief Thief of Sarawak (as federal minister for energy at the time) and his own uncle, then chief minister.
This illegal act (the pair never put it before the Sarawak State Assembly to be ratified) removed state control over its maritime oil and gas, providing for only a meagre 5% of revenues to Sarawak.
Now Taib is trying to present this 5% tax as some kind of grand achievement after billions have been lost to the state.
In fact, as Sarawak Report exposed, Taib was seeking just before the last election to use the weakness of Najib Razak to claw back the oil wealth he had given away, but primarily for himself. Najib agreed that future contracts should go through a Sarawak state entity called Petros.
And guess whom Taib placed as the ‘joint venture’ company for the first Petros deal? None other than his own family concern South Sea Energy, fronted by others but secretly run by himself and his son (as reported by their bank in Oman).
Taib and his crew have for years ruthlessly exploited Sarawakians’ understandable desire to be rid of the corrupt governance that has been allowed and exploited in the worst colonial manner by West Malaysia.
However, this multi-billionaire Chief Thief of Sarawak has been the embodiment of that exploitation and control, the self-serving catspaw of the federal entities who eroded Sarawak’s autonomy. Therefore, any settlement that includes his continuing control of the country can only mean greater peril for the people of Sarawak.
What is needed is reform and the rule of law – then a new state government can start discussing matters on an even footing with their partners in the federation.