SABAH & SARAWAK SHOULD RENEGOTIATE ROYALTIES ON OIL AND GAS

44 years in Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak still got a paltry 5% royalty for oil and gas produced. 95% of this revenue went to the Federal Government to develop roads, airports, government complexes, the Twin Towers and other infrastructrues in West Malaysia and the result is that West Malaysia became very much developed at the expense of these two states. In terms of development Sabah and Sarawak can easily be 44 years behind West Malaysia. Enough is enough! The State governments of Sabah and Sarawak should by now in the interest of Sabahans and Sarawakians form a Task Force to renegotiate these oil and gas royalties with the Federal Government and take back all of our oil and gas rights. We should demand 100% of the oil and gas back, not 10% or 20% etc as suggested by many quarters. These are our properties and should be manged by us. Sabah and Saraawak should even demand profits derived from businesses of KLIA, Highway Tolls etc. where oil and gas money from these two States were used as investments for these facilities. There would not be any point at all to give us our oil and gas money back, even 100% back, when our oil wells and gas reservoirs dried up. Its just a matter of time, maybe within the next 20 years Sabah and Sarawak will no more have oil and gas.

We should by now also be able to enjoy cheap petrol and gas besides enough money be given to all families in both Sabah and Sarawak to make them happy each year for Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Gawai Dayak, Deepavali and for other festive celebrations. Old folks should by now be able to enjoy some sort of money allowances so that they could lead a more meaningful and happy life in their twilight years.