This was in response to a report which claimed that anti-federal sentiment in the state had been growing.
News portal FrontWires reported that newly set-up state government-linked companies, such as Petroliam Sarawak Bhd (Petros), were a good move to realise the objectives under the 1963 Malaysia Agreement (MA63), but it is moving away from the spirit of shared prosperity and unity.
Lau said Sarawak’s struggle for ownership over its carbon treasure reached a climax with the establishment of Petros as the sole aggregator.
Without naming them, Lau also slammed several news reports which allegedly depicted grave ramifications for the country if Sarawak prevails in the showdown between Petros and national oil company Petronas
“Having read some of them, the condescending tone used to look down upon Sarawak’s ability to manage these resources perturbed me,” he said in a Facebook post yesterday.
He said the argument that Petronas has become a top 500 Forbes biggest company has been used to justify its taking over of Sarawak’s wealth.
“The fact that so much wealth has been taken from Sarawak and so little has been returned to develop the economy and infrastructure of Sarawak continues to be a sore and real point that all these media have failed to even touch on,” he added.
Lau said Sarawak has the talent to manage and develop her own resources and that a developed and successful Sarawak is good for the entire country.
“Sarawak is not asking for more than what is rightly hers. The MA63 has to be honoured,” he said.
Yesterday, CNA reported that Petronas was contemplating legal action to defend its monopoly over the country’s natural resources.
The news portal stated that this move by Petronas is in response to Sarawak’s strong push for increased control over the trading and extraction of gas and other oil-related products within the state.
The news agency quoted government officials close to the matter as saying that Petronas is mulling filing an injunction in the coming days to head off any confrontation between Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration and the Sarawak government.
The report also quoted lawyers as saying that unless the state government decides to resume negotiations with the national oil corporation over the control of natural resources, the dispute could escalate into a full-blown court battle.
It added that Sarawak has given Petronas an ultimatum to finalise an agreement by Oct 1, granting the state full rights over the supervision of oil and gas trading extracted from the state.
The report quoted Petronas’s president and group CEO Tengku Muhammad Taufik as saying that liquefied natural gas buyers and upstream players have raised concerns over the security of fuel supply in light of the proposal by Petros to take over as the sole gas aggregator for the state.
“We have seen ourselves become one of the primary partners of countries like Japan and South Korea.
“They want assurances that supply, if developed through an integrated model, will be able to be supplied reliably, cost competitively, (which is) now more important than ever,” he said.
In May, Petros was reported to commence assuming Petronas’s role in all natural gas trading activities in Sarawak from July 1. Sarawak utilities and telecommunications minister Julaihi Narawi said the transition period for Petros to take over the duties would be completed by January.