Sabah needs to revisit the legal aspects of any previous agreement with the federal government on the oil and gas issue, according to a closed-door forum held in Kota Kinabalu on Friday by the Borneo Heritage Foundation (BHF).

Participants decided that at the same time there was “a need to press for greater transparency on the mechanics of the oft-cited five percent royalty to the state governments of oil states”.

The trigger-off point for the forum - the swirling controversy over who owns the oil and gas rich 15,235 sq km Ambalat block in the Sulawesi Sea has brought back the production sharing contracts (PSC) with the oil contractors into sharper focus and greater public scrutiny.