KOTA KINABALU, April 24 — Although keen to boost its electricity reserve margin, Sabah remains reluctant to pursue coal-fired power generation due to its commitment to environmental protection and sustainability, said Finance Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.
While the state is under pressure to ramp up power generation to meet rising demand, Masidi said any short-term benefits from coal must be weighed against long-term environmental and reputational risks.
“It’s my personal stand that we should try to avoid it. There is so much at stake. We need to talk about sustainability.
“While we need to sacrifice something that can actually be good for the state, we need to look long term and how we position ourselves,” he said.
Commenting on Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli’s recent statement that Malaysia’s natural gas reserves are depleting at a rate of 4 per cent, Masidi said the issue was not unexpected — but that the focus should be on responsible use.
“All natural gas reserves will eventually run out — not just in Sabah, but globally.
The key is to maximise its utilisation to solve current energy and infrastructure problems.
“Fear of depletion shouldn’t paralyse us, but guide us toward sustainable alternatives,” he said.
Masidi said Sabah had long been conscious of its ecological assets, often choosing conservation over exploitation — and famously choosing “monkeys instead of gold.”
“We could have exploited our natural resources for quick profits. But we didn’t — we chose to keep Sabah green. And now tourism is our new gold,” he said.
He added that tourism was worth investing in, particularly as 95 per cent of the industry’s workforce are locals — unlike sectors such as plantations and construction, which rely heavily on foreign workers from Indonesia and the Philippines.
“In tourism, it’s the Sabahans who benefit the most. That, to me, is self-deserved and worth more than the gold we chose not to dig up.”
