Petronas to divest Sarawak assets within 7 years, as Malaysia Agreement 1963 restored?

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

I lived 3 years in Sarawak, Malaysia.  Over the years I have repeatedly commented and reminded that Sarawak and Sabah are *not* "just states" in Malaysia but were EQUAL PARTNERS with Peninsular Malaya and Singapore in forming the country of Malaysia.

It seems the Malaysia Agreement 1963 will finally be revisited and restored.

Wonderful news.  Long overdue.  Hats off to PM Dr. Mahathir for this.

Next up to be revisited, the Petroleum Development Act 1974, which was never voted on or agreed to by Sarawak and Sabah parliaments, as per their respective Constitutions.

I hear *rumors* that Petronas plans to divest its Sarawak assets (including MLNG in Bintulu) within 5 to 7 years.  Sell off bit by bit.

Looks like Petronas, Malaysia's National Oil Company, sees the writing on the wall and plans to gradually shift attention to overseas operations, as well as to Johor's RAPID downstream operations -using mostly Saudi crude oil imports.

Interesting timing for all this now, as Malaysia became a net oil importing country since around 2014.

PM: Putrajaya will restore Sabah, S'wak as equal partners

 

Putrajaya  [ Malaysia's Federal administrative center ]  will restore Sabah and Sarawak's status as equal partners of the federation as per the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

"In MA63, all four territories (including Singapore) joined as equal partners, who stood tall together.

"But in the following years (after Singapore left) saw Sabah and Sarawak's status change from equal partners to states in Malaysia.

"The new Malaysia and the Pakatan Harapan government will take note of this, and will restore the equal partner status to Sabah and Sarawak.

"This is part of the process which will be implemented once the MA63 study is completed," Mahathir said in his Malaysia Day speech in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah today.

Setting up a special cabinet committee to properly enforce MA63 was one of Harapan's 10 promises for its first 100 days in office.