KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government will always protect the interest of the state and its people when it deals with policies or agreements.
Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman said Sabah will not easily agree to any agreement when it involves the welfare of the state and its people, sending a strong message that the government will never be a “Yes Man” to anyone.
In stressing this, he took example of the oil and gas equities that Sabah has procured through discussions that brought win-win situation.
Addressing state and federal civil servants at the annual gathering for 2018 here, he said the oil royalty issue has been debated frequently including by Barisan Nasional (BN) components but the state government has its own approach in fighting for the interests in this industry.
“We went in strategically by engaging Petronas in discussion to hold 10 per cent equity in the LNG 9 in Bintulu, Sarawak and it worked.
“We also wanted to be involved in upstream petroleum projects and succeeded in three Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) in Sabah for Block SB330, SB331 and SB332 at an onshore area with Sapura Kencana and Petronas Carigali.
“But before Petronas awarded the PSCs, the ‘big boss’ of Sapura Kencana came to me and they gave their terms but we were determined that we should get more than 10 per cent (share).
“I told them any drilling at seabed is not under our control but any on land must follow our regulations, which are decided by various departments and after that they were willing to discuss and we finally have 25 per cent equity,” he said.
Musa also said while there are skeptics that claimed Sabah is not as developed as other states in Malaysia, the fact was many progress has been made economically, socially and physically over the years.
He added when he became Chief Minister in 2003, he wanted Sabah to have a new direction, goals and economic model in order to compete at national and regional levels, which has been addressed with various programmes and projects.
Meanwhile speaking to the public workers, he said there are always room to do better despite all the achievements by the government agencies and government-linked companies.
“All the success stories I shared are not an individual achievement as a Chief Minister or state Finance Minister, but the combined success of all of us who worked hard.
“Without your strong support we will never reach this level and we are on the right track to continue with our progress. We are a team.
“So for 2018 and beyond, I hope all the public workers in this State will continue to be committed in ensuring the positive impact (from government programmes) can truly be experienced by the target groups and the people as a whole,” he stressed.