High-income Sarawak must help poorer states, says Dr M

Free Malaysia Today

In the 1970s, all states agreed to pool their resources for the collective benefit of the nation, according to former finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.   Read More:  https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2024/10/28/high-income-sarawak-must-help-poorer-states-says-dr-m/  Laporan Lanjut:  https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/bahasa/tempatan/2024/10/28/sarawak-berpendapatan-tinggi-mesti-bantu-negeri-lebih-miskin-kata-dr-m/  Free Malaysia Today is an independent, bi-lingual news portal with a focus on Malaysian current affairs.    Subscribe to our channel - http://bit.ly/2Qo08ry   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Check us out at https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com Follow FMT on Facebook: https://bit.ly/49JJoo5 Follow FMT on Dailymotion: https://bit.ly/2WGITHM Follow FMT on X: https://bit.ly/48zARSW  Follow FMT on Instagram: https://bit.ly/48Cq76h Follow FMT on TikTok : https://bit.ly/3uKuQFp Follow FMT Berita on TikTok: https://bit.ly/48vpnQG  Follow FMT Telegram - https://bit.ly/42VyzMX Follow FMT LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/42YytEb Follow FMT Lifestyle on Instagram: https://bit.ly/42WrsUj Follow FMT on WhatsApp: https://bit.ly/49GMbxW  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Download FMT News App: Google Play – http://bit.ly/2YSuV46 App Store – https://apple.co/2HNH7gZ Huawei AppGallery - https://bit.ly/2D2OpNP  #FMTNews #DrMahathirMohamad #TengkuRazaleighHamzah #OilRoyalties

Transcript

00:00Former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Sarawak, which is now a high-income state,

00:07should support the development of less developed Malaysian states.

00:11Sarawak by itself is already making a lot of money. Its budget is $11 billion,

00:18which is very high compared to, say, Kedah. Kedah's budget is only $700 million.

00:26Initially, of course, both Sarawak and Sabah were poor and the federal government had to support

00:32them. But now, of course, they have become rich and it is time that they support the other poor

00:40countries also, poor states. Over the last decade, Sarawak's fortunes have risen significantly,

00:47with a substantial portion of its revenue in 2023 attributable to its takings in the

00:53oil and gas sector. In that year alone, Sarawak earned 2.8 billion ringgit from royalties under

01:00the Petroleum Development Act 1974, and with the added sales tax on its ONG output,

01:05the state secured an extra 3.4 billion ringgit. Former Finance Minister Tengku Razali Hamzah

01:12recalled that in Malaysia's early years, all 13 states had limited resources,

01:18prompting the decision to pool resources for the nation's benefit.

01:22The Petroleum Development Act was introduced as a result, under which Petronas was established

01:27and given sole rights to all ONG within Malaysia's onshore and offshore territories.

01:34With the resources available, we could have a start, a new beginning. We could really make use

01:45of the oil wealth for the building up of the country, let it grow together and let people

01:52benefit. The law's enactment and Petronas' formation marked a shift toward the nationalization

01:58of oil resources with a state revenue sharing agreement. And it became what it is because it's

02:05Raman Yacob who proposed. Tengku Razali said this formula ensured equal payment for all states,

02:12providing each oil-producing state with 5% of its oil's value, as agreed by all state governments

02:18and the federal cabinet. However, several states have since pushed for a larger share of oil

02:23royalties, with Sarawak seeking to transfer some ONG authority and revenue from Petronas

02:29to its state-owned Petros. Natasha Bust, FMT News.

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