KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 — Talks for Sarawak’s 20 per cent share of oil royalties will have to wait until the formation of a full federal Cabinet, the state Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition chief Chong Chieng Jen said.
He said there is also a pending lawsuit by Petronas which will be heard tomorrow, where the company is seeking the Federal Court's declaration that it is the owner and regulator of petroleum resources in Malaysia, The Borneo Post reported today.
“We would have to wait until the (federal) cabinet is formed and meet to discuss. We will decide and announce later," he was quoted saying.
He was asked why Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had allegedly only spoken about 5 per cent of oil royalties from the federal government to Sarawak — which is the current rate.
But Chong clarified that Dr Mahathir's announcement revolved mainly around the direct channelling of the five per cent oil royalties to the state governments of oil-producing states, instead of the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) administration's practice of channelling the royalties to an agency for opposition-held states.
He said the BN government did not directly channel the oil royalties to the PAS-led Kelantan government or the Terengganu government when it fell into the hands of PAS previously.
“What Dr Mahathir said was that we, the PH federal government, would not do what the previous BN federal government did. The PH federal government would give the 5 per cent O&G royalties directly to the government of oil-producing states,” the Stampin MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman was quoted saying.
Chong said the federal government under PH would directly give the 5 per cent oil royalties to the Sarawak government despite it being led by the opposition.
Dr Mahathir has said the full list of Cabinet ministers is expected to be announced this week.
In PH's manifesto for the 14th general election, the coalition's 41st promise states that it will increase the oil royalty to Sabah and Sarawak to "20 per cent or an equivalent value" as a step for a fairer division of petroleum revenue, and to ensure Sabah and Sarawak take on more responsibilities in the expenditure for development.
