Joint KDM plea to the govt
Published on: Saturday, March 29, 2014
Penampang: Three KadazanDusun Barisan Nasional (BN) component Youth wings here suggested that the Federal Government's share of the oil royalties be given to Sabah and Sarawak, instead.Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), United Pasok Momogun KadazanDusun Murut Organisation (Upko) and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) Youth chiefs said this in a joint call for the Federal Government to increase the State's oil royalty from five per cent to 20 per cent.PBS Youth chief Datuk Jake Jikulin Nointin, Upko Youth chief Arthur Sen and PBRS Youth chief Arthur Kurup made the stand in fully supporting a recent call by Sarawak's new Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem for the Federal Government to review the state's oil royalty.
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Nointin said the three BN Youth wings do not deny that any increase on the State's oil royalty would involve the legal process that would take a long time.Therefore, they unanimously agreed to recommend an initial step towards getting the 20 per cent by asking the Federal Government to transfer its five per cent oil royalty share to Sabah and Sarawak.By doing so, he said this initiative would make Sabah and Sarawak each get 10 per cent from the total net revenue. "We made this joint call as the development infrastructures in both states that have vast areas are quite behind compared to other states in the peninsula."Hence, we strongly believe that it is appropriate for both to be given high returns that are more than five per cent now so that both state governments can provide better development in their respective states in tandem with a concept of unity and camaraderie which has been practised all this while," he said.
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Nointin said this in a press conference, Friday. The three chiefs also signed a document containing the issues they have agreed to voice out as one.Kurup said they also proposed that a Parliamentary Select Committee or Parliament Special Committee be set up to check the level of effectiveness in the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and 20-Point and 18-Point memorandum for Sabah and Sarawak, respectively.
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"We also want representation of parliament seats for Sabah and Sarawak to be increased to 35 per cent or not more than one-third in line with the spirit of Cobbold Commission report for the Malaysia Agreement."As agreed, Sabah should be getting 40 per cent while 60 per cent for Sarawak under the 35 per cent portion for the MP seats, also stated as state quota in the Article 161E of the Federal Constitution and Article 66 of Malaysia Agreement," he said, adding that currently both states only make up 25 per cent of the 222 parliamentary seats in the nation.In a related development, Sen said the Borneonisation issue including in Federal departments and agencies should also be reviewed.For instance, he said, the Federal Government should consider having a Sabahan representative in Petronas's Board of Directors so that the State's needs and interests could be voiced out and catered to.On another issue, they also called on the Federal Government to give due recognition to Bumiputera Sabah and Sarawak in official forms, instead of putting them in the category of "others".Arthur cited a Sabahan youth who entered a local university in the peninsula, where he was asked to be in a group of "others" in an orientation programme."It is disheartening when this youth complained to me that being a Kadazan, he had to be in 'others' group when the seniors created Malays, Chinese, Indian groups and other races to be in the 'lain-lain' group."Surprisingly, there are other races like Pakistani, Bangladeshis and other races in that group. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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