Oil-rich Sabah still the poorest
Sarawak and Sabah have been giving away oil for decades yet both share the 'honour' of being poor states.
It is vital that the leaders go into these discussions with Putrajaya knowing the true facts of the agreement and the events leading up to how both states were “coerced” into signing the agreements.
If I recall correctly, Sarawak commenced its oil production in the early 1900s. Sabah has been producing oil for 30 years now.
Petronas, a petroleum company wholly owned by the federal government, was established in 1974 to explore and exploit the oil and gas resources in the country, on land and offshore.
Sarawak signed the oil-sharing agreement with Petronas in 1975. Many believe that the state leaders signed the agreement under duress.
The oil royalty for the state was fixed by the federal government at 5% of the value of the gross production.
The accident was believed – but not proven – to have been an act of sabotage to foil the original agreement that gave Sabah the agreed rate of 20% oil royalty.
The saboteurs’ original plan was allegedly to wipe out not only most of the Sabah state cabinet members but also Sarawak’s then chief minister Abdul Rahman Yaakub and the federal finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who is also Gua Musang MP.
Abdul Rahman is the uncle to current Chief Minister Taib Mahmud.
Federal budget depended on oil
However, at the last minute, the top-level conspirator had a change of heart upon realising that the death of the former chief minister of Sarawak and a federal minister could have far-reaching repercussions.
Hence the plan was allegedly aborted at the last moment.
The intention to include the former chief minister of Sarawak in the death list would act as a veiled threat to scare the Sarawak government from demanding the same royalty amount as Sabah.
(Details of the critical moments leading to the fatal crash on June 6 were revealed by Razaleigh during a speech in Sabah last April. Razaleigh, a former Petronas chairman, had said that he had already buckled up on the ill-fated plane when Harris Salleh, then Sabah deputy chief minister, had asked him to disembark and join him on another Nomad flight to Banggi Island to inspect a cattle farm.
(But Harris later countered this with a statement saying that [the [plane] was never scheduled to fly to Kota Kinabalu with Stephens but was intended to fly with then Sarawak chief minister Rahman Yaakub to Kudat on the second Nomad plane and then by helicopter to Banggi Island.)
This piece of history aside, let us illustrate how the meagre 5% royalties received by Sarawak and Sabah contribute to the main cause of poverty in the two states.
Going through the charts (below), we can deduce that the oil revenues allocated to Sarawak and Sabah are meagre sums.
However, the actual development funds returned and allocated to the two states from the petroleum revenue earned by the federal government fall far below the requirements of the two states.
This can be judged by the slow development of the state transport and infrastructure projects such as highways and bridges ,and the state of poverty prevalent in the rural areas.
Even if there are substantial allocations of funds for development projects, most of them would go to the BN crony companies with very much inflated, unreasonable contract prices.
The federal government budget then would very much depend on the two states’ petroleum revenue in the years to come to finance development in Peninsular Malaysia and to feed the greedy Umno political masters.
Awang Abdillah is a political analyst, writer and FMT columnist.
The government is doing all it can to eradicate hardcore poverty with programmes that are well publicised. However, we are not idealists who like to paint a good picture just to soothe the feelings of the people or make promises which are practically impossible to fulfill
BalasPadamIt is not impossible. Many have succeeded. But attitude change is necessary. The people themselves must make an effort to help themselves while waiting or getting assistance from the government
BalasPadamAccording to statistics, the average per capita income of Sabah now lies in the middle when compared to the richest and poorest states
BalasPadamSebab itulah apa yang Datuk Musa lakukan sekarang ini. Mengenai rolyati.
BalasPadamDatuk Musa mencadangkan yang mana Royalti Sabah 5% ini akan dapat dibincangkan bersama dengan kerajaan persekutuan. Kita harapkan yang terbaik akan dapat diperolehi.
BalasPadamSemoag perbincangan dan kajian yang dibuat akan menghala arah yang lebih positif.
Padamboring sudah saya dengan isu diatas.. bolehkah pemimpin2 politik pembangkang berfikir bahawa tanpa usaha, kekayaan negeri tidak akan dinikmati oleh rakyat selama2nya?
BalasPadamjika saya mempunyai tanah tetapi saya minta orang luar yang usahakan tanah saya, adakah saya akan kaya hanya bergantung dengan sewa bulanan hasil dari tanah itu??
BalasPadamtukar kerajaan 1000 kalipun, jika rakyat asyik bergantung dengan bantuan kewangan kerajaan, rakyat tetap tidak akan kaya..
BalasPadamnasib baiklah kerajaan hari ini diperintah oleh pemimpin yang benar2 mendahulukan rakyat.. jika Najib memerintah selama 22 tahun, saya yakin Sabah akan jauh lebih maju dari hari ini..
BalasPadambyk usaha kerajaan dalam membasmi kemiskinan di Sabah.
BalasPadamKempen membasmi kemiskinan harus berterusan agar kadar kemiskinan berkurangan dari masa ke semasa.
Padambyk program seperti Projek Mini Estet Sejahtera (Mesej), Ladang Program Pembangunan Rakyat Termiskin (PPRT), Agropolitan, 1 Azam, Program Bantuan Rumah (PBR), Program Pembasmian Kemiskinan Bandar (PPKB) dan Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) dilaksanakan bagi meliputi ketua isi rumah miskin (KIRM) dan ketua isi rumah miskin tegar (KIRMT) yang tersenarai di bawah Sistem e-Kasih.
BalasPadamIsu royalties harus ditanggani dengan berkesan agar pendapatan negeri juga bertambahan.
BalasPadamRakyat juga harus berusaha untuk membaiki taraf hidup.
BalasPadam5% not sided to Sabah, such amount has need to make further adjustment.
BalasPadamAccording to Auditor General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang, Sabah continues to be among states with an excellent financial management record and can be a role model to other states. He said the State's financial management under Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman has improved over the last few years following the responsiveness of government departments and agencies to the demand of financial governance.
BalasPadam"Sabah has proven that excellence in financial management is not impossible if serious in implementing them."For certain, Sabah's success can be a role model or benchmark for other government departments and agencies," he said at the presentation of the Excellent Financial Management Accountability Index Award of The National Audit Department 2011. Musa, who is also State Finance Minister, was present at the event.
BalasPadamAmbrin also said Sabah has maintained its "certificate without reprimand" for filing its financial ststement on time for 12 years running.He advised civil servants in the State to improve their work culture by implementing and monitoring government projects carefully.
BalasPadam"We must ensure that the implementation of projects are viable with the investment made and give benefits to the rakyat," he added.At the presentation ceremony, six State departments and agencies were accorded four-star rating. They were the State Secretariat, State Public Services Department, State Treasury, Government Printers, Kudat Town Board and Rural Development Corporation.
BalasPadamAccording to Ambrin, the number of State government departments and agencies accorded the highest star rating has increased compared with three the previous year.He said 106 State departments and agencies were audited last year and each had shown that their financial management is at a good level.
BalasPadamMeanwhile, Musa said the unqualified statement quashed the negative notion and baseless allegations from certain quarters that often dispute the efficiency of the State's financial management."We are very proud of this success because this is the twelfth time we achieved it since 2000 that at the same time has placed Sabah as among the best in Malaysia in terms of accountability and efficient financial management," he said, adding that is an indicator that brought a positive image to Sabah.
BalasPadamMusa expressed delight that half the State's agencies that were audited by the department showed improvement in their performance in financial management.He said this enabled some of the agencies to be independent while others to repay their respective loans and also give dividends to the State Government.
BalasPadam"It is a good and positive indicator because the allocation that was prudently saved and also dividends enable the government to implement various development programmes for the overall benefit of the people," he said.Musa said the State Government would continue to expand its revenue sources so that the development that is actively implemented by the ministries, departments and agencies throughout the State would continue to be enhanced so that the people of all levels would benefit.
BalasPadamHe called on the civil service to strive together with the government to turn Sabah into a developed State in line with the development halatuju and national progress.He said all the planned programmes would be implemented with strong and firm cooperation from all quarters including the civil service in Sabah.
BalasPadam