Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Information Chief Chin Vui Kai is demanding Putrajaya that the current diesel price of RM2.15 per litre be maintained until Sabah’s crumbling infrastructure and unstable energy supply are brought to parity with Peninsular Malaysia.
Chin characterised any potential price hike as a “fiscal injustice,” arguing that Sabahans should not be forced to shoulder the federal government’s financial burdens while the state remains decades behind in basic development.
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Unlike West Malaysia, which enjoys an extensive network of electrified rail systems and public transport buffers, Chin pointed out that Sabah’s economy is entirely “diesel-dependent.”
“The energy dependency structure in Sabah is fundamentally different. Our land transport and logistics are fully reliant on diesel. In the interior, many of our people still depend on diesel generators just to keep the lights on because the electricity grid is so unstable,” Chin said.
He warned that a price hike would trigger a domino effect, skyrocketing the cost of electricity and essential goods, further punishing businesses and rural families already struggling with the high cost of living.
Chin also highlighted the irony of Sabah being a major oil and gas producer while its citizens face the prospect of losing fuel subsidies.
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He argued that after six decades of the peninsula benefiting from Sabah’s resources, the federal government owes the state an “infrastructure debt.”
“The diesel price of RM2.15 is a basic subsidy that must stay. It is the minimum the federal government can do until they repay the debt of insufficient infrastructure they have left us with,” he added.
The SAPP is calling for a total freeze on diesel price changes in the state until Putrajaya delivers electrified rail systems and a modernized road network comparable to West Malaysia; stable, state-wide electricity grid to eliminate reliance on diesel generators; and immediate action to address the long-standing price disparities and high housing costs that plague East Malaysia.
Chin stressed that a “unified fuel pricing mechanism” is only fair if there is “unified infrastructure quality” across the South China Sea. Until then, Sabah demands its fair share of the energy dividend.
