THE grapevine is filled with news that Parliament may be dissolved during or after the impending Budget session. The law in Article 55(4) of the Federal Constitution says that whenever Parliament is dissolved, a general election shall be held within 60 days and the new Parliament shall be summoned within 120 days of the dissolution. Will all state assemblies also go to the polls if a federal election is called? There is no such constitutional requirement and the decision to hold a state election prematurely will be guided by political imperatives at the state level, especially in Opposition-controlled states.

1. Politicians are making promises, GE15 must be near. The Parliamentary election must be near. Political leaders have started to make overly attractive but improbable promises. As W Malaysia is in a political mess, it is expected that no party/coalition will or can emerge the clear winner. The support from Sabah and Sarawak will likely determine the outcome as to which party/coalition will rule Malaysia in the next 5 years. Not surprising therefore that “new ideas” and “rosy promises” are being uttered to woe the voters in Sabah and Sarawak, most notably of which are some unreal/unrealistic/surrealistic suggestions on the positions of Sabah and Sarawak.

The avalanche of corruption scandals unearthed in Malaysia involving billions of people’s money making corruption nearly a way of life that plagued all strata of institutions and society and can pave the pathway to the destruction of the nation and people. Hearing of billions of ringgit being stolen whether it is 1MDB, SRC or LCS or many more other abbreviations, in an ordinary course of business, should have sent shock waves to all in Malaysia.

Hajiji has inherited this economic status quo. Sabah has been trapped in an economic rout [a black hole] for more than 30years. The golden era that Tan Sri has given Sabah evaporated soon after he left office. Years later, Tan Sri Musa was able to resurrect the economy to 8pc growth in 2017. Unfortunately, he left office in 2018.

THE Cobbold Commission which preceded the IGC has been characterized by Dr Stanley Bedlington, the Cornell scholar as a “British contrivance activated and organized by British officials.” (Stanley S. Bedlington, Malaysia and Singapore: The Building of New States (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1978).

Brief history of Sabah’s energy woes. Sabah owned SESB which, to our shame, was badly managed. Power failures, brown outs and shutdowns were a daily affair, Sandakan and Tawau suffered worst. Power theft was widespread too. These have created chaos and stunted Sabah’s economic development. Businesses, especially SMEs, suffered massively. Impossible for industries. Apart from mismanagement, SESB suffered from price increases in diesel which was then its main fuel by Petronas. To stamp the financial bleedings, Sabah sold SESB to TNB. Blame who? Sabahan political leaders for having allowed bad management and failure to secure an equitable supply of diesel at an affordable price from Petronas. After all, the petroleum was pumped from our territory. It is ours in the first place. Such was the sorry tales of Sabah’s weak economic leadership..

REALIZING the importance of human capital in the Richardian sense the Government is constantly moving in the direction of better protection and remuneration of the workforce.

Sabahans First Policy for young Sabahans in oil/gas.

THE Hammarskjold Commission investigating the mysterious death of the UN Sec-Gen in a plane crash also pointed out another “topic” that it considered could have been looked into more critically; Lansdowne’s departure from Ndola, straight after Hammarskjold had flown over the airport.

CARBON pricing is fast becoming a contemporary buzzword, with the adoption of carbon pricing instruments (CPIs) having grown significantly since 2010. While these instruments were confined, mostly, to European nations back then, today some 46 national jurisdictions operate in the presence of some form of carbon pricing regime. Developing countries are also showing an interest in their implementation; the World Bank indicates that Brazil, Indonesia, Morocco, Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam — and indeed Malaysia — have announced that either a carbon tax or emissions trading scheme (or in some cases, a combination of both) is on the policy horizon.