Pakatan budget: what are in store for Sabah and Sarawak?

September 27, 2012

The Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak will have a better deal in the Pakatan Rakyat’s budget 2013 as it pledges that in the spirit of Kuching Declaration, it is committed to fulfilling any and all obligations on the part of the federal government.

The Declaration signed in Kuching recently affirms to honour the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement of 1963, which among others seeks to restore Sabah, Sarawak and Malaya as equal partners, fair representation in Parliament, citizenship, to restore native customary rights over land,  to appoint locals to head federal government departments in the states,  oil justice and equitable development.

“Pakatan Rakyat shall honour the pledge to increase petroleum royalty to the oil producing states to 20%. This is expected to bring additional RM12.5 billion to the states of Kelantan, Sabah, Sarawak and Terengganu in the country so far.

“The disbursement of the petroleum royalty will come with a strict transparency and accountability procedure to ensure that every sen of the petroleum royalty goes to the people,” the Pakatan coalition said.

It said: “Pakatan Rakyat is critical of the favourable treatment given to well-connected corporations such as SapuraKenchana in benefitting from risk-sharing contracts (RCSs) for marginal fields when no similar effort was made to invest in the future of the rakyat from the oil producing states.

“There are enough skills, expertise and resources from the states to develop their own second-tier oil and gas companies that can use the RSCs for the marginal fields as a training ground before competing in the wider oil and gas market, not unlike the experience of Petronas in its formative years.

 “The legacy and benefit of oil and gas resources inn the states can be harvested well beyond the expiry life of the resources itself. The emergence of second-tier oil and gas companies owned by the states retains the skills and expertise in the company that can eventually compete elsewhere, even

when the hydrocarbon resources are fully depleted in Malaysia,” the coalition said.

Pakatan Rakyat will work with the state governments to establish state-owned second-tier oil and gas companies for Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu and Kelantan and other oil-producing states to benefit the financial investments made into marginal fields through risk-sharing contracts (RSCs).

In the budget, the construction of the Pan-Borneo Highway will be given top priority by the Pakatan Rakyat.

Under the present BN government the disparity of road coverage in the peninsula against Sabah and Sarawak is very glaring.

While the road network has reached 35,734 km in the peninsula by 2009, the combined road network in Sabah and Sarawak is only 10,171.

“Sabah and Sarawak are in dire need of a massive upgrade of its road networks, especially considering that its oil and gas resources have contributed largely to indirectly funding the infrastructure development in the rest of the country.

“Pakatan Rakyat undertakes to commence the design and construction of the Pan-Borneo Highway connecting Kuching to Kota Kinabalu and east coast of Sabah as part of its promise to bring development in Sabah and Sarawak to be at par with the rest of the country.

“A Pakatan Rakyat federal government will also undertake to assess the financial impact and viability of upgrading and extending the rail networks in Sabah and Sarawak which currently stands at 134 km.” It said. 

Penans sue Samling, state government

The Penan community of Ba Jawi in Sarawak's Upper Baram region is suing a giant timber company, Samling and the state government over 15,000 hectares of primary rainforest in order to protect their livelihood from being destroyed by logging.

The case was filed on Tuesday morning (21 Dec 2010) by lead plaintiff Lija Agan, headman of the tiny village of Ba Jawi, and three others who are claiming that the Ba Jawi forests have been used since time immemorial by their ancestors and urgently need to be protected against logging.

The case was filed in Miri High Court by Messrs Baru Bian Advocates and Solicitors.

In their statement of claim, they say that about 200 years ago, their ancestors were living in and around Ba Jawi, exercising native customary rights over the land in Ba Jawi and its vicinity.

"They hunted and gathered food from the forests and lived on sago (uvut) as their staple food. The plaintiffs are presently exercising these rights over that same land," the statement says.

The Penans are claiming that a logging licence held by Samling Plywood, a subsidiary of the Malaysian Samling group of companies, should be rescinded, since it was issued by the Sarawak government in an "unlawful, improper, unconstitutional and therefore null and void" manner.

The new case is the fifth native customary rights case lodged by Eastern Penan communities from Upper Baram since 1998. It has been prepared with assistance from the Bruno Manser Fund.

The area covered by the Ba Jawi claim is a key region of the Penan Peace Park, a self-administered conservation region in the Heart of Borneo, which was proclaimed a nature reserve by 17 Penan communities in November 2009 and covers twice the size of Singapore.

In February 2007, the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei signed the tripartite "Heart of Borneo Declaration" in which they committed themselves to protecting the rainforests of central Borneo.

However, the declaration has not been followed by much action on the ground. In December 2009, Sarawak's director of forests, Len Talif Salleh, even condemned the Penan Peace Park as an "illegal" project that "tainted Sarawak's image".

Governor calls for closer ties among the Dayaks of Borneo

The Governor of Central Kalimantan, His Excellency Augustin Teras Narang (pic below) has called on the Dayaks of Borneo to organise more visits between them in order to strengthen their bonds of friendship and promote their culture.

“Let us organise more visits in order to strengthen our ties and promote our culture,” he said at a dinner organised by the Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU) at the Dewan Suarah Kuching last night.

His Excellency is a leading a 150-strong Dayak delegation from Kalimantan to Sarawak for a three day goodwill visit.

“Through these visits we can also discuss our common interests and develop our human resources and capital,” he said.

Earlier in his welcoming speech, the chairman of the organizing committee, Dr. Dusit Jaul said that the SDNU members in January this year made a goodwill visit to Pontianak where they met their counterparts from the five provinces in Kalimantan.

“Our meeting tonight will open the way for closer rapport among the Dayaks of Borneo and through our efforts our unique Dayak culture can be made known to the world,” he said.

SDNU president, Mengga Mikui also spoke at the function which was also attended by Dayak leaders from the Iban, Bidayuh and Orang Ulu communities.

Source: www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com