Country’s wealth always shared fairly – Mahathir

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PAPAR: The country’s wealth and resources should be shared fairly among all Malaysians as it has always been.

This was what former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said when asked if Sabah should ask for an increase in its oil royalty.

“We have always practised fair sharing. Terengganu used to be the biggest oil producer in the country but they never asked for more.

“This is not the way of Sabahans. Sabahans are kind and generous. This is just a political gimmick from the opposition to gain support. Maybe they should promise 100 per cent (royalty) in their manifesto, I hope Sabahans will support them,” he said sarcastically.

Speaking to reporters after delivering a talk at the “Bicara Minda With Tun Dr Mahathir” here yesterday, the former premier said Malaysia had been able to thrive as a progressive country due to the fair sharing policy it held onto.

He said oil should not be an exclusive property of a state where it is being sourced from but part of the shared resources of the whole country.

“Now that Sabah is about to become the biggest oil producer, I think it is not nice to say that our oil is for us alone,” he said.

Earlier in his talk, Mahathir said the people in Sabah should be empowered with the necessary skills that would enable them to participate more actively in the oil and gas industry being aggressively developed in the State.

He said Sabah is poised to become the biggest oil revenue earner for the country and it would be a shame if its people would not benefit directly from it due to lack of knowledge and skills to tap the potential to be created by the industry.

Mahathir also acknowledged that the cost of living in Sabah is higher compared to that in Peninsular Malaysia due to the additional cost of transporting goods here and that he would appeal to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to look into finding effective solution to the issue.

“I’m not in power anymore but I promise that I will bring this matter to Prime Minister Najib so that the cost of living in Sabah can be reduced,” he said.

In a question-and-answer session during the talk, Mahathir also called on senior Barisan Nasional politicians to give more opportunities to the young leaders in their parties.

Asked what was his advice to senior leaders who seemed to cling to their positions forever, he said every leader must lead by example and heed the advice and feelings of those below him.

“We have to remember that every human will die. It would be better to give other people a chance before we go. They have supported you all this while and now its your turn to support them,” he said.

At the same time, he reminded the younger leaders not to be hasty in their journey to the top but practise respect and patience while waiting for their turn to contribute as leaders of their parties.

What is more important, he said, is for every leader to remember that their struggle in politics is not for individual glory but for the people.

In this regard, he said leaders must put the party ahead of personal interest, as it would be useless to be a winnable candidate without a winnable party.

“Sometimes we don’t agree with what they party leadership thinks about who is the winnable candidate. The important thing is the party, don’t sabotage other candidates just because we want to prove that he or she is the wrong choice.

“The election is for the party, not individual candidate. There is no point for us to win if our party losses. Once the leadership has chosen the candidates, we just support them for the party,” he said.