Upko chief Bernard Dompok has made a solemn "once bitten, twice shy" pledge after he ran into heavy flak back home on a return visit over his "being so easily persuaded by the federal government to continue with the shipment of Sabah gas to Sarawak" amidst continued objections in the state.

Speaking to the press at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport late last night, the minister in the Prime Minister's Department pointed out that Sabah will only ship gas to neighbouring Sarawak "if there's excess capacity."

merdeka statement launch 020807 bernard dompok In return for this "small concession", said Dompok, the federal cabinet last Friday agreed to build a full-fledged petrochemical complex and oil refinery in the state.

Dompok was commenting on the severe reservations expressed by various quarters, across both sides of the political divide, on "whether the federal government's pledges to Sabah are worth the paper it is written on considering the history of broken pledges".

"We are here to monitor and to ensure that whatever is promised by the federal government will be delivered and in fact that is one of the reasons why Upko has been very vocal on this," said Dompok.

"It is because we want to ensure that whatever promise is made by the federal government must be delivered and we want to ensure this."

Dompok sees "a watchdog role" for his party in Sabah vis-a-vis the federal government "to ensure that Kuala Lumpur does not renege on its promises to the people in the state." Umno Sabah has apparently had its hands tied generally on the matter - "for obvious reasons" - while other BN component parties in Sabah, except for PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah), lack representation in the federal cabinet.

Dompok's critics are not impressed and have reiterated their comments in recent days on the federal cabinet's decision last Friday.

Unkept promises

Among others, Kalabakan MP (Umno) Abdul Ghapur Salleh continues to throw cold water on the federal cabinet decision, former Labuan MP (Umno) Suhaili Abdul Rahman is firmly against Sabah gas going to Sarawak, while PKR Sabah chief Dr Jeffrey Kitingan "sees no sense in the idea of shipping only excess gas."

"From my experience, the federal government promised many projects to Sabah but never fulfilled them," said Ghapur. "I am worried that the promise to build a petrochemical plant in Sabah would suffer the same fate."

"I feel that the state government has been tolerant enough with Petronas," said Suhaili who is Labuan Umno division chief. "Sabah, like Sarawak, is also a big producer of gas in the country but it is still marginalised in terms of developing a petrochemical industry."

"How do you know there is excess gas?" asked Jeffrey. "What is the use of a full-fledged petrochemical plant in Kimanis when at the same time you export the same raw material meant for this plant. It is illogical and a waste."

Jeffery like Suhaili called for the Kimanis-Bintulu gas pipeline project to be scrapped and instead use the RM1.5 billion allocation for the proposed full-fledged petrochemical complex and oil refiner in Sabah.

Other BN leaders in Sabah who declined to be named are amused that Dompok was given "a heroes welcome at the KKIA by Upko members after caving in to the federal government on the gas pipeline project."

abdullah ahmad badawi pm pc 160908 02 Earlier, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had pledged at a gathering of BN leaders on May 31 in Kota Kinabalu that the proposed 500 km Kimanis-Bintulu gas pipeline project will be scrapped and instead the gas reserves used in Sabah for the generation of electricity for the energy-short eastern seaboard. Petronas, advised by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, reportedly over-ruled the prime minister's decision and decided to continue with the RM1.5 billion project. Petronas’ apparent recalcitrance has put Abdullah in a spot with Sabahans and placed additional pressure on federal cabinet members from Sabah.

Sabah has long complained that it has nothing to show for its huge reserves of fast-depleting oil and gas except for a methanol plant in Labuan which is a Federal Territory. Meanwhile, even non-oil states like Pahang, Johor, Kedah and Malacca have various oil and gas industry-related activities.

Pahang: MTBE plant; propylene plant; polypropylene plant; propane dehydrogenation plant; terephathic acid plant; oxo-alcohols complex; acrylic acid/acrylic esters plants; phthalic anhydride plant; and butanediol plant.

Johor: ethylene plant; propylene plant; styrene monomer plant; polystrene plant; ethylbenezene; ethylene plant; benzene plant; toluene plant; and polyhethylene plant.

Kedah: ammonia/urea plants; methanol plant; oil refinery (under planning).

Malacca: ammonia/urea plants; methanol plant; oil refinery (under planning).

Besides the four non-oil states with various oil and gas industry-related activities, the oil states of Terengganu and Sarawak both have a wide range of activities utilizing their hydrocarbon resources.

Only the first step

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the federal cabinet decision is only the first step in the process of erecting the promised, and long awaited, full-fledged petrochemical plant and oil refinery in Sabah. The matter will have to be forwarded to the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) for feasibility and environmental studies before being sent to the Federal Treasury, the Finance Ministry and back to the Federal Cabinet again.

It is not known how long this entire process in bureaucracy will take, whether Abdullah will still be around by that time and how much of red tape is involved. Abdullah has reluctantly promised, under pressure from his own party leaders, to step down in March next year. An incoming prime minister, even from BN, may not feel bound by a federal Cabinet promise made under Abdullah's leadership.

For another, there is the question of Petronas to consider. The oil corporation has in the past ignored political decisions and went off at a tangent on its own. The failure to fulfill Abdullah's May 31 promise is a case in point.

Finally, the federal cabinet decision calls for the construction of the proposed full-fledged petrochemical plant and refinery at the same time as the Kimanis-Bintulu gas pipeline. Work has already started on the gas landing facility in Kimanis and it is anyone's guess whether the construction of the proposed gas pipeline itself can be held up pending a resolution of the proposed full-fledged petrochemical plant and oil refinery for Sabah.