See Chee How
KUCHING (July 25): Sarawak needs to establish a sovereign wealth fund to regulate, manage and invest its wealth for the betterment and future of Sarawak and all Sarawakians, for the present and the future, said See Chee How.
According to the Batu Lintang assemblyman, the future of Sarawak is dependent upon the restoration and command of its autonomous and sovereign rights pursuant to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“The Sarawak state government has disappointed Sarawakians on Sarawak Day for its failure to advance and safeguard the special interests, rights and position of Sarawak as enshrined in MA63 and the Federal Constitution.
“It has also failed to meet the expectations of Sarawakians for greater autonomy and devolution of power of key subject matters to Sarawak,” he said during the Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) Southern Zone Taskforce Facebook live session on Friday night.
The PSB lawmaker said the grand launch of the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy 2030 (PCDS 2030) on this year’s Sarawak Day will unfortunately be a “hit-and-miss” with it completely overlooking and ignoring Sarawakians’ aspiration for greater autonomy and devolution of power.
See pointed out that the PCDS 2030 did not address the impacts on the state’s economy over the next 10 years.
According to him, Sarawak’s autonomy and the devolution of power from federal to Sarawak is integral the future of Sarawak, be it socio-political, or the economic development of the state.
He noted that the economic development for the next 10 years, which is the gist of PCDS 2030, is the aspiration of Sarawak to be a developed state by 2030.
“Undoubtedly, we all want a stronger and more resilient economy to ensure that Sarawak will be prosperous and that the wealth from our development will be sustainable to continue to benefit the future generations of Sarawakians.
“However, only with autonomy and that the powers to key subject matters are devolved to Sarawak as enshrined in MA63 and the Federal Constitution, we will not have the economic prosperity we are entitled and deserved,” he said.
See asked if Sarawak will continue to forego its rights to develop its wealth in petroleum resources.
“Are we happy to settle for the two onshore oil fields, and continue to leave the more than 40 offshore oil fields, which are much more profitable, to Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas)?”
In the latest statistics revealed by Petronas, and reported by the National Energy Commission, in their 2020 report, he said: “Up to 2018, we have reserves of 1.304 billion barrels of crude oil and condensates at within our Sarawak’s territory. At the rate of daily production of 175,220 barrels in 2017, we will have exhausted our crude oil and condensates in 2038.”
He said it was reported that the sales of crude oil and condensates extracted from the Sarawak region was RM19.13 billion in 2017.
“If we do not take back our rights to offshore petroleum mining, we will be foregoing RM180 billion in 10 years, the period of the PCDS 2030, and that is a huge loss of our depletable resources,” he asserted.
Similarly for natural gas, See said with Sarawak’s reserves 43 trillion standard cubic feet in 2018, and at the then daily production of 4,104 million standard cubic feet, the state’s natural gas reserves will have been exhausted in 2047.
He noted that the sales of natural gas from Sarawak was RM43 billion in 2017.
“It is not difficult for us to calculate the losses we are and will continue to suffer and Sarawakians be deprived of if the Sarawak government continues to overlook and ignore the Sarawakians’ aspiration for greater autonomy and devolution of power and did not address their impacts on the state’s economy over the next 10 years.
“It speaks a lot about a country’s leaders and their leadership when it comes to apportioning the country’s wealth generated,” he said.
Rather than producing more millionaires and billionaires, See said the target should be to enable all Sarawakians to have their fair share of dividends from the development of the state’s wealth of natural resources.
As such, he said the establishment of a Sarawak Wealth Fund will be a key enabler for the fair apportioning and distribution of the state’s wealth to make all Sarawakian families prosperous.
“But more, we can make use of our wealth generated to further the needs and interests of all Sarawakians, in education, health, rural development and all other economic sectors.
“The Sarawak Wealth Fund will also enable Sarawak to invest the excess wealth generated to safeguard the sustainable development in Sarawak and the future of Sarawak and our future generations of Sarawakians,” he added.