Derision on oil money hooh!

Sabahans do get very emotional with their oil. They feel the 5% royalty they have been getting from KL is pittance, they feel they deserve more.

At the recent gathering to celebrate his exile from politics, Anwar Ibrahim said if Pakatan Rakyat forms the Federal Government, Sabah would get up to 20% of royalties from oil and gas and timber. More schools would be built and help would be given to the poor here.

This got us drooling, right? Who wouldn't? This guy is a good fisherman; he really knows how to catch fish.

Anwar struck the right chord. Many of us want to know how is that an oil producing state now becomes one of the poorest in the country? Give back more of our money lah.

The next question we must ask, does it really matter whether it is 5%, 20%, or 80%?

Anwar can't simply pluck the figure from thin air, can he? In order to be generous, he needs to take it from somewhere. If you play the stock market, they tell you for every winner there is a loser.

My accountant friend told me when you prepare a budget, a balanced would make you sleep well at night, a surplus is just fantastic, and a deficit is one you'd try to avoid at all cost.

In a simple language this is how I understand it, say, we get RM 5 for our oil, now we have been promised RM 20, so extra RM 15 has to appear from somewhere.

Is budget allocation in Selangor going to be raided? Very unlikely. Penang? Same answer.

Chances are whoever is responsible will have to do some creative work with Sabah's own allocation budget. He will probably have to reduce other items so that he can come up with RM15. This means instead of 5 schools, we would probably have only 2. If you insist on 5, you have to come up with your own development funds; your oil royalty becomes a trump card. You get my drift?

This 20% of gross revenue? Too good to be true. After deducting all costs and profit sharing with subcontractors, PETRONAS has little to show for. Of course they will not agree. What about Sarawak and Trengganu? Petronas must as well close shop.

The above scenario is probably what Anwar needs to do if he wants to fulfill his promise

It doesn't make any difference does it?

Then, is it really wise to push the extra money to our local politicians? I suppose it's okay if every sen can be accounted for. Otherwise, just let people in KL handle it.

Anwar is also saying there is only "Ketuanan Rakyat". Makkal Saktii, People's Power now. About time someone reminded us this. Power cannot belong to one class of people in this multi-ethnic society of ours. It's yours and mine together.

I am from Sabah, can someone tell me why must some one else tells me how much royalty I should get for an asset which is mine and not theirs?

I think I should be consulted first, that will be real "Ketuanan Rakyat", don’t you think?

Then, was it Socrates who said there will always be the rulers and those who are ruled?

Awang Buntak for ASJournal