The Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) has accused Chief Minister Musa Aman of only protecting his own position and interests, instead of the state and its people.
Its Information Chief Chong Pit Fah said this was obvious when Musa refused to seek for a higher oil royalty from the Federal Government who have full control of Petronas.
“He (Musa) is only protecting his own position and interests, that is why he said there is no need for the State to ask for higher oil royalty from Kuala Lumpur,” said Chong.
He was responding to Musa’s statement that the amount of allocations from the Federal Government pouring into Sabah was more important than discussing an increase in oil royalty for the state.
Musa said whether or not the oil royalty is increased, when Sabah asked for allocation from the Federal Government, the latter gives.
Chong however said it was unacceptable that Musa has refused outright to negotiate with the Federal Government for a higher oil royalty, which would significantly boost the development of the State and the standard of living of its people.
“Even though he is the Chief Minister of Sabah, he has no right to deprive the State and its people of something that is so important and beneficial without first consulting the people.
“ What more when he acknowledged that being the second largest state in the country, Sabah required huge funds to develop, especially areas in the rural and interior,” he said.
He reminded that Sabah is currently the poorest state in the country with the highest number of jobless people and at the same time is blessed with abundance of natural resources, in particular oil and gas.
Chong said Musa’s refusal to seek for higher oil royalty clearly showed that he did not care whether the state and the people are poor.
“He is more concerned about his job and the perks. Everybody knows that he (Musa) is appointed by Kuala Lumpur. It is no wonder that he dare not ask for more oil royalty."
SAPP is fighting for an autonomous state government to allow the state to make policy decisions that are beneficial to the people without having to refer to Kuala Lumpur.
"We are supposed to be equal partners when we formed the Federation of Malaysia together with Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak in 1963,” Chong said.
He claimed that a majority of the Sabah Barisan Nasional component parties are unhappy with Musa’s administration with LDP deputy chief Chin Su Phin exposing this when he called for changes to the current Sabah Barisan Nasional leadership.
Chong claimed that even the UPKO leaders and members were grumbling about it.
He said despite all the talk of billions of allocations from the Federal Government all these years, there has still been no satisfactory explanation from the state government on the persistent power supply shortage and healthcare problems in the State.
He noted that Musa had said that under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), Sabah received more than RM20 billion from the Federal Government, which did not include funds from the Private Funding Initiative (PFI).
Chong especially questioned why despite being a cash-strapped Government-linked Corporation (GLC) Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) resolved to purchase second hand generators to boost power supply in Sabah.
He said this clearly showed that the Federal Government was not sincere in wanting to resolve the perennial power supply problem affecting the State.
“Sadly, Musa and the entire State Cabinet continue to keep mum or play dumb for fear of losing their jobs,” he said.
On Musa’s remark that Sabah always get funds from the Federal Government when it asks, Chong turned around and asked if this was so why is Sabah still far behind the other States in terms of development.
In view of this, he said that it is only appropriate that the state government seek higher oil royalties from the Petronas and use the money to uplift the peoples’ living standard, instead of having to constantly beg from the Federal Government.
“Furthermore, the oil is found in Sabah’s own backyard. Tengku Razaleigh was right in saying that Sabah’s oil is for the people of Sabah,” he said.
by FMT
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