KUALA LUMPUR: Senator Robert Lau (
pic) has proposed the establishment of a Royal Commission to investigate how Petronas has spent its RM1 trillion in profits and to recommend reforms that ensure greater transparency and fairness in sharing revenues with oil-producing states.
He said Malaysia’s fiscal reliance on oil and gas alongside oil palm remained a risky foundation, with Sarawak having sacrificed much of its petroleum wealth for national growth but now recording the slowest GDP expansion in the country.
Between 1970 and 1985, petroleum exports surged by almost 29 per cent annually, largely from Sarawak, at a time when the nation faced collapsing tin and rubber prices, yet the state now records an average annual growth rate of only 0.9 per cent between 2016 and 2020.
Lau noted that while Petronas has long been portrayed as the country’s “golden goose,” the real source of the wealth has been Sarawak, whose gas resources are mostly exported, unlike Terengganu’s reserves which are used domestically to support industry.
He warned that Sarawak’s call to reclaim its resources was met with resistance from leaders in Peninsular Malaysia, despite the fact that the state’s oil and gas were secured decades ago through emergency laws unrelated to the Borneo territories.
Drawing parallels with the collapse of the tin and rubber industries in the past, he said the country’s dependence on natural endowments reflected a lack of competitiveness and raised the question of what future resource would next be relied upon to sustain public finances.
He added that lessons from Sarawak’s experience must guide future decisions on emerging resources such as rare earths and on strengthening agriculture, which has declined as a share of GDP, stressing that long-term planning and proper execution are vital to improve livelihoods.
