It is absolutely absurd to learn that Petronas is directly responsible to the prime minister under the Petroleum Development Act 1974. Petronas does not belong to the PM but to the nation. Petronas is not a part of the civil service like the various ministries.
Hence, why should Petronas be answerable only to the PM? Petronas is a national corporation and all national corporations should be answerable to parliament This should also be the case with all other national corporations such as Proton and the like.
The current scenario where Petronas reports to and is directly responsible to the PM is only valid if Petronas is part of the civil service or it the PM owns Petronas is one of its major shareholders.
This warped scenario has given rise to various doubts pertaining to the way revenue earned by Petronas is spent and a host of other issues. In short, the present situation lacks complete transparency. Petroleum is a national resource and this resource belongs to the rakyat .
Hence, parliament should be the boss of Petronas and not the PM. Parliament should be the one to decide on issues relating to the revenue earned by Petronas – disbursement of royalty, taxes, re-investment, business developments and so forth.
If this had been the case, then issues such as the wang ehsan payment for Terengganu would not have happened. Sabah would then only need to seek parliament’s approval if it feels that it deserves a bigger percentage in petroleum royalty.
In short, things would have been much more transparent and open. This would also mean that Sabahans would have one less issue of discontent against the federal government.
Parliament should also be in charge of overseeing all other national corporations based on the same argument – that these corporations are not part of the civil service and that they belong to the nation and the rakyat .
On the part of the PM, the time has come for him to walk the talk – be more transparent and we, the rakyat will then work with you. Things must change for the better, and it is time for that.
As Warren Bennis puts it: ‘In life, change is inevitable. In business, change is vital’. Words are just words unless we live by them. You have to walk the talk’.
Mr PM, everything you do counts. There is never a wrong time to do the right thing. People hear what we say, but see what we do - and seeing is believing.
