MIRI: A group of about 60 yesterday morning staged a ‘Sarawak for Sarawakians’ peaceful protest at the premises of Petronas Carigali and Shell in Lutong to demand that Sarawak companies with the right criteria be given priority over peninsula companies in oil and gas contracts.
Soo (right) with the group staging the protest
Secondly, it was to demand for more jobs and scholarships for Sarawakians, and that Sarawak should be given stakeholder equity in Petronas as well as at least two seats in the Petronas Advisory Council.
Sarawak Association for People’s Aspiration’s (Sapa) president Lina Soo, who was in the group, claimed that Petronas and Shell had been favouring peninsula folk and foreign companies in lucrative contracts, despite the fact that there were Sarawak companies meeting the criteria for the contracts.
“But they were sidelined. In employment and career promotions too, Sarawak has many local talents who are well qualified yet were discriminated in favour of non-Sarawakians,” she said.
On education, Soo alleged that many of the state’s bright students were denied scholarships by the oil and gas companies.
She argued that after 40 years of exploiting Sarawak’s oil and gas resources to the tune of RM50 to 80 billion a year, no Sarawakian had ever been appointed to sit on the Petronas management board, nor did the Sarawak government ever hold any stake in Petronas.
“The state’s oil and gas wealth had been sucked out of Sarawak with all taxes from the oil and gas and related industries collected by the federal government,” she highlighted.
Soo cited Bintulu as a significant example where the majority of employees in such industries were from the peninsula, making it appear like a Malayan town transplanted on Sarawak soil.
Independence should mean ownership and management of Sarawak’s resources and wealth, she said.
“However, the reality was that the state’s resources are controlled and exploited by non-Sarawakians, and to this day Sarawak remains subjugated, exploited and dirt poor,” she added.
Soo urged all Mirians to come forward to support the protest.
Following that, she handed over a memorandum to Julayhi Tani, manager in the Administration Services Department (BAM), Sarawak Operations of Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd.
She then proceeded to Shell to hand over another memorandum to Shell Malaysia Corporate Affairs senior manager Peing Tajang.
“We cannot stand and stare,” Soo said, quoting a remark by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem at his recent speech when calling for a bigger share of the oil & gas cake.