Sabah better off now, so what’s there to ‘save’, GRS asks Warisan

Masidi Manjun says GRS chairman Hajiji Noor’s administration has boosted the state's financial reserves to RM8.6bil after taking over from Warisan in 2020.

GRS’s secretary-general Masidi Manjun says one the Hajiji Noor administration’s biggest successes has been SMJ Energy Sdn Bhd, a state-owned O&G company now worth RM5 billion.

KOTA KINABALU:

 Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) has questioned Warisan’s “Save Sabah” slogan — asking what exactly the state needs saving from, given it is faring much better now than under Shafie Apdal’s 26-month administration previously.

GRS secretary-general Masidi Manjun said the state’s financial reserves have grown to RM8.6 billion under chief minister Hajiji Noor’s leadership — a marked improvement since GRS took over from Warisan five years ago.

Warisan, led by Shafie, was defeated in the 2020 state election, paving the way for Hajiji, the GRS chairman, to become chief minister.

“So what is there to save?” he asked, warning that the real risk lies in Warisan potentially squandering the funds GRS has worked diligently to secure.

“If anything, we (GRS) may end up needing to save the state government (in the future).

“What we need is stability,” Masidi, seeking a sixth term as the Karanaan assemblyman, said in an interview with FMT.

He said the GRS administration has proven it was more than capable of managing the state’s finances and economy.

“That is why, after the polls, the same people must be allowed to govern. We’ve already proven our capabilities. There’s nothing that needs saving,” he said.

The state finance minister accused GRS’s rivals of attempting to downplay the coalition’s accomplishments by portraying the significant progress made as nothing more than ordinary.

He warned that doing so could jeopardise the significant progress Sabah has achieved over the past five years.

Masidi also disputed Warisan’s claim that Shafie’s administration secured Sabah’s right to impose a 5% sales tax on petroleum products, arguing that the move had been in the works since 2014 when Barisan Nasional led the state government.

The Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah deputy president said it was GRS that expanded Sabah’s oil and gas (O&G) footprint via a landmark commercial collaboration agreement (CCA) signed with Petronas in December 2021.

He said one of the GRS administration’s biggest success was establishing SMJ Energy Sdn Bhd, a state-owned O&G firm.

Incorporated with RM50 million capital injection from the state government, SMJ Energy is now worth RM5 billion, and earned RM370 million in profits last year.

“That alone is proof that the current state government has done much to ensure Sabah reaps greater benefits from the O&G industry,” he said.

Masidi also pointed to a significant increase in Petronas contracts awarded to Sabah-based companies over the past three years, with values rising from RM681 million previously to RM2 billion.

“This is proof that even private companies owned by Sabahans have benefitted.”

He added that the state government was no longer solely dependent on the 5% oil royalty or sales tax on petroleum products, having ventured into other sources of revenue for the long term. - FMT