KOTA KINABALU: A Warisan leader has rubbished claims by Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister James Masing that the Sabah government the party previously led was afraid of demanding its oil and gas rights from former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Warisan deputy president Darell Leiking instead turned the allegations back saying Masing was part of the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government that had failed to restore or deliver the rights of both states, particularly concerning oil and gas, as enshrined under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) during BN’s entire reign.
He added that even Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg was not happy with BN’s previous technical committee on the devolution of authority, co-chaired by Nancy Shukri and Anifah Aman, with Abang Johari describing it as “powerless”.
Nancy and Anifah were then the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and foreign minister respectively.
“To me, it’s not a question of being scared but (former Sabah chief minister) Shafie Apdal knew what he was doing – that’s why the Pakatan Harapan-Warisan special Cabinet committee on MA63 resolved 17 of the 21 issues tabled before the committee.
“So, for Masing to say Shafie (Warisan) was scared is unfair and wrong. Shafie was handling the matter along with Abang Johari at that time,” he said.
Leiking, who is Penampang MP, claimed that the awareness on the MA63 presently was mostly realised during PH-Warisan’s time as the federal government.
“When PH-Warisan was in power, this (oil and gas) was one of the first things on the agenda. So all the good things that have come about are because of the MA63 committee.”
He added that the committee could have addressed the oil and gas issues, which were part of the four unresolved MA63 matters if the PH-Warisan government had not collapsed.
Masing had earlier today claimed that the Warisan-led Sabah government did not demand the state’s oil and gas rights from Putrajaya because they were “scared” of Mahathir.
His remarks came after Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Jeffrey Kitingan said Sabah would try to strike a commercial agreement with Petronas, similar to what Sarawak had done.
Masing said Sarawak had actually approached the Sabah government under Warisan to join them in suing Petronas over the 5% sales tax on petroleum products but was rebuffed by one of its ministers instead.
Leiking, however, said it was uncalled for Masing to dismiss the Warisan government as being scared, adding Shafie had his own way of obtaining the 5% sales tax from Petronas.
He said it was now up to the current Sabah government to pursue and get the same rights that Sarawak had obtained through the courts.
The Warisan government started imposing the 5% sales tax on nine oil and gas companies operating in Sabah in April but in August, Shafie, then the caretaker chief minister, said Petronas was the only one that had yet to pay up.
“Everybody was trying to resolve the matter including the Sarawak chief minister,” Leiking said.
He also told Masing to name the Warisan minister who rebuffed them and reveal the context of their conversation, saying anyone was capable of making such a random claim.