Kota Sentosa assemblyman Wilfred Yap has expressed strong disagreement with recent remarks by Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli, who suggested that increasing Sarawak\u2019s share of oil and gas revenues could negatively affect Malaysia\u2019s sovereign credit rating and lead to higher national debt interest rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yap described the statement as misleading and unfair, warning that it risks turning Sarawak into a scapegoat for deeper inefficiencies at the federal level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSarawak’s demands are not arbitrary. They are based on legal and constitutional provisions, including the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), the Inter-Governmental Committee Report 1962, and the Federal Constitution, all of which recognise Sarawak\u2019s autonomy over land and natural resources,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Highlighting the historical imbalance in revenue distribution, Yap pointed out that from 1976 to 2020, Petronas contributed more than RM1.2 trillion to the federal government, while Sarawak received only a five percent royalty despite being a major oil and gas producer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo suggest that correcting this imbalance could threaten Malaysia\u2019s finances ignores the real issue of the federal government\u2019s over-reliance on Petronas and lack of a long-term strategy for national productivity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yap added that Malaysia\u2019s economic future should not depend on one company, one region, or one commodity, but instead on structural reforms that improve tax efficiency, curb leakages, and grow high-value sectors across all states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also defended Sarawak\u2019s regulatory authority over its own resources through state laws such as the Oil Mining Ordinance 1958 and the Distribution of Gas Ordinance 2016, and stressed that Petros, Sarawak\u2019s state-owned oil and gas entity, operates within the law and with transparency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yap said that giving Sarawak the fiscal space to develop would benefit Malaysia as a whole by strengthening internal growth, uplifting rural communities, and contributing to the national economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe GPS-led Sarawak government does not seek confrontation but actually, only justice under the Constitution and MA63. It is unjust for Sarawak to be asked to accept less in the name of \u2018national interest\u2019 when that interest is shaped by poor federal planning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He called for a shift in Putrajaya\u2019s budget philosophy toward one that empowers all states, particularly resource-rich ones, and moves away from centralised dependency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMalaysia must learn to stand on its own two feet and not lean unfairly on Sarawak\u2019s oil and gas,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kota Sentosa assemblyman Wilfred Yap has expressed strong disagreement with recent remarks by Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli, who suggested that increasing Sarawak\u2019s share of oil and gas revenues could negatively affect Malaysia\u2019s sovereign credit rating and lead to higher national debt interest rates. Yap described the statement as misleading and unfair, warning that it risks turning Sarawak into a scapegoat for deeper inefficiencies at the federal level. \u201cSarawak’s demands are not arbitrary. They are based on legal and constitutional provisions, including the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), the Inter-Governmental Committee ReportRead More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33487,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33486"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33486"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33488,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33486\/revisions\/33488"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}