PENAMPANG: Penampang Upko Youth fully supports Ranau Upko Youth chief Hisyamuddin Harun’s proposal for Petronas to set up a university campus in Sabah.
Its chief, Carl Mosoom, said it was a brilliant proposal to spur and encourage more young generation to take part in new career opportunities in the oil and gas industry.
He said the issue was also raised in UPKO Youth’s last exco meeting and they were in agreement that Petronas should open its university branch in Sabah and it is also imperative that it should provide education grants specific to the courses offered for Sabah and Sarawak applicants only.
Mosoom who is also the Upko Youth Exco secretary, said the idea was among the many issues discussed as part of Upko Youth exco’s preparation for the Barisan Nasional (BN) Youth Lab discussion meeting to be held in Kuching soon.
“Petronas, as a national bread winner and a Fortune 500 company with vast operations around the globe, including the recent Sabah Ammonia and Urea Sipitang (SAMUR) and Sabah Oil & Gas Terminal (SOGT) in Kimanis, will need to make their presence felt in Sabah more tangibly, hence the proposal to have Petronas set up its university branch in Sabah is timely.
“Whilst controversies have arisen out of this gas exploration, reputed to be the biggest reserves ever found in the world, and the oft discussed Sabah’s oil royalty, Petronas assuming the responsibility to provide better education and improved standard of living to the people of Sabah can be part and parcel or what can be deemed as an ongoing corporate social responsibility (CSR),” he said.
Mosoom reckoned that this could probably be a better formula to regain the confidence of the people in Sabah in the BN.
On the Ranau Youth chief’s proposal to provide specific funds to the Sabah’s natives, heopined that Petronas should perhaps offer this in terms of communal projects on an annual basis covering the entire rural areas of Sabah.
“We understand that Petronas is responsible for the Imbak Canyon Conservation unit group besides wholly financing them and jointly managing it with Yayasan Sabah as an environmental related operations which encompasses community outreach and their awareness.
“Perhaps the other areas where they can also contribute to this effect is the setting up of a Petronas Science Centre, such as those found in the Twin Towers KLCC or popularly known to many school children as Petrosains,” he said.
Mosoom suggested that the Petronas University Sabah campus be sited in the Penampang District.
The reasons are simply, and many will agree with me, that of the close proximity to the city centre and the airport, which will be a main advantage, and the fact that it is only an hour’s drive to SOGT Kimanis.
“Penampang is fast growing and, if I may say so, the Petronas campus can almost immediately be realized if they wish to house their institution in one of the hyper malls that are under construction along the Penampang Bypass which is expected to be completed in a couple of years,” he said.
The major contributing factor that makes Penampang suitable is because of its population density.
“If I am not mistaken, there are around five government and mission secondary schools in Penampang which means every year there are roughly over a thousand students finishing schools,” he added.