A Sarawakian assemblyman says the state is not seeking special treatment from the federal government in pushing for a greater share of revenue from its oil and gas (O&G) resources.
Wong Soon Koh said Sarawak was merely pursuing its rights and an equitable portion, which was long overdue, Utusan Borneo reported.
Sarawak government legal adviser JC Fong said last week that Petronas had taken 95% of the state’s O&G business with the Bornean state receiving only RM49 billion for nearly 50 years
Wong, a seven-term assemblyman for Bawang Assan, said the “insignificant sum Sarawak received” was a “reality that could not be disputed”.
“We need to ask ourselves an honest question. Some 50 years since 1975, Sarawak only receives 5% of O&G royalties, resources of which were extracted from the state.
“Is this fair?” he was quoted as saying.
Wong, a senior Progressive Democratic Party vice-president, was responding to former economy minister Rafizi Ramli who, in a recent podcast, dismissed Fong’s statement.
The Pandan MP said that Fong’s assertions were inaccurate and based on “half-baked figures”, ignoring the hundreds of billions that Petronas had invested to build the O&G sector in East Malaysia.
Wong however argued that Sarawak had only received around RM96 billion in total from 1975 to 2024.
He said the sum included RM49 billion in oil royalties, RM28.6 billion in dividends and RM18.66 billion in sales tax.
“This is a tiny sum compared to the estimated value of over RM2 trillion in resources that has been extracted from Sarawak.”
Yesterday, PKR‘s Chiew Choon Man said that between 70% and 80% of O&G revenue was used to fund operations, from offshore exploration up to production.
Of the remaining 20% to 30%, about 5% would be directly channelled to the respective state governments while another 5% would go to the federal government, he said.
Chiew said a portion of the remaining 10% to 20% revenue was shared with Petronas’s production-sharing partners and further reduced by incidental costs.
