(Borneo Post JUNE 25, 2019, TUESDAY AT 12:08 AM)
KUCHING: Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak should tell its national secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, who is federal Finance Minister, that Sarawak needs 20 per cent oil and gas royalty and 50 per cent of all revenues collected from Sarawak be returned to the state.

In throwing this challenge, Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan said DAP Sarawak should not be shy to tell Lim that Malaya had taken lots of money from Sarawak.

“This money should be refunded to Sarawak. If cannot return the principal sum, tak apa (it’s okay), interest also jadi (can do) lah. Why make us suffer?” said the former DAP Batu Lintang assemblyman in a statement yesterday.
Voon said the finance minister should be “slow to tell Sarawak would be bankrupt soon because he should reflect from where his food comes from”.

“For each spoonful he (Lim) takes, he should think Sarawak is poor and needs her money back.”
According to Voon, part of the food people in Malaya eat every day comes from Sabah and Sarawak.

He said “Sabah and Sarawak are not charitable organisations. We need our money to buy food and clothing for the poor. We also need the money to build schools and hospitals”.

He said the chief executive officer (CEO) of Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) recently said the revenue from 850,000 barrels of crude oil daily that went to Malaya was more than RM200 million.
“This huge amount of crude oil pumped from Sarawak was disclosed to the public by CEO of Petronas recently, else we are in the dark,” lamented Voon.

He said such huge amount “is enough for the people of Sarawak for lunch and dinner every day”.

“This is because Sarawakians, although starving, are not greedy. Many of us only need to eat simple tapau (takeout) food,” he added.

As such, he hoped that DAP Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen “will have the gut to tell the finance minister that Sarawak needs 20 per cent of its oil and gas revenues and also 50 per cent of all the revenues collected from Sarawak be returned to Sarawak”.

“This is because this was mentioned in the manifesto of Pakatan Harapan in the last parliamentary election. Please do it before our oil wells dry up,” urged Voon.