A screengrab of See (on top) during the Facebook live session.
KUCHING (July 4): Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) presidential council member See Chee How said the state is in socio-economic chaos and predicament due to its own doing with regards to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
He explained that this was because the state failed to stem the tide of the systemic erosion of Sarawak’s autonomous powers and sovereign rights since the formation of Malaysia.
Efforts made towards seeking restoration of Sarawak’s autonomy powers and sovereign rights in accordance with the MA63 in the last few years have been feeble and almost coming to a stand-still, he said.
“Even though it is our constitutional right to deal with the present coronavirus pandemic, the Sarawak government had allowed the federal government to completely dictate our response in this public health crisis including our immunisation programme, exercising autonomous power only in the formulation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) which are causing public confusion and annoyance,” he said during a PSB Southern Zone Taskforce Facebook live session yesterday.
All economic sectors in the state and its people are struggling and suffering due to the economic consequences of the pandemic and policy response, he added.
“We need money to finance stimulus packages to prop up our economy, keep Sarawakians employed and to support the Sarawakian families in their food and healthcare needs.”
See, who is also Batu Lintang assemblyman, pointed out that since last March, the federal government had formulated eight financial support packages which had totaled RM530 billion but questioned how much did the state receive from that amount.
The GPS Backbencher Club recently claimed that the State government had dished out six iterations of Sarawakku Sayang Special Assistance (BKSS) worth RM4.5 billion but such limited spending has little or insignificant impact on the State economy nor livelihood of Sarawakian families, he said.
“The pandemic has exposed our flaw in not having the contingency resources to call upon in this time of dire economic conditions.”
“It would have made a huge difference if we have had vigorously pursued the restoration of our autonomous powers and sovereign rights in accordance with MA63, and immediately constitute our Sarawak Wealth Fund in the best interests of Sarawak and all Sarawakians, when the ideas were mooted in 2014.”
Sarawak may have RM30 billion in state reserve, but the reserve might have now being stretched and committed in the various mega projects that were announced in the last few years, he added.
He said that the state should look to Norway, whose wealth fund can help to mitigate the economic crisis and move ahead of all other countries, in economic growth and recovery.
Last year, the oil producing Norway withdrew a record of more than USD48.5 billion (equivalent to more than RM200 billion) from its wealth fund to help the Covid-19 battled economy and to care for the country’s 5.4 million population, he added.
Norway’s approach of using the national sovereign wealth fund to conserve its petroleum resources and diversifying its investment to sustain the fund for future generations is a huge contrast to Sarawak’s entering into the Commercial Settlement Agreement with Petronas and the federal government last year, he said.
“We have simply being shortchanged, particularly with Sarawak making a huge concession to concede grounds on the constitutionality and legality of the application of the provisions in the Petroleum Development Act 1976,” he said.
Any hope that the Sarawak Wealth Fund will be constituted by the State government and thereby allowing all Sarawakians to have their fair share of our petroleum resources is now dashed, with Petros’ conditional award of the Sarawak onshore block SK 433 to Petra Energy Development Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Petra Energy, and its joint venture partner, Uzma Engineering Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uzma Berhad, he added.
The state government has endorsed the conditional award, said See.
He said that Petra Energy Berhad may be substantially owned by a wealthy Sarawakian family, but there is little or no significant shareholding interests of any other Sarawakian in Uzma Berhad. Further, there is absolutely no mention of the Sarawak Wealth Fund in the award of this prized Sarawakian asset.
“I must therefore remind the Sarawak government that it is with our rightful and equitable returns that will enable us to save and invest the just returns into our Sarawak Wealth Funds, to take care of the needs and interests of Sarawak and all Sarawakians, including the future generations, and in time of economic crisis as we are facing now,” he added.
from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3dGAsEI
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