Published Updated
Sarawak PKR said it supports the state
government’s decision to freeze work permits for non-Sarawakians who
want to work for Petronas in the state.
This comes less than a week after party secretary-general Rafizi Ramli disapproved of the move because he believed it would be counterproductive for Sarawakian staff.
However, Sarawak PKR vice-chairperson See
Chee How said today the moratorium was good as there are qualified
Sarawakians who can fill the positions.
“It should not be limited to new work
permits, but also to the renewal of work permits of Petronas staff who
are non-Sarawakian,” said the Batu Lintang assemblyperson in a
statement.
Sarawak deputy chief minister Douglas Uggah Embas yesterday announced that the state government will impose a moratorium
with immediate effect on all new applications for work permits from
Petronas personnel from outside Sarawak who intend to work in the state.
The move came amid complaints of
Sarawakians being retrenched from Petronas' operations in the state
despite the already low participation from locals.
However, Rafizi had said last Friday that
establishing quotas in Petronas would only limit Sarawakian staff's
experience to within the state, rather than allow them to enjoy the
broad opportunities across the Petronas group.
He said such policies would only put the Sarawak staff on the losing end in the long term.
Instead of banning Peninsular staff, Rafizi said they should focus on the root cause of the problem: BN's failure to keep its promises to Sarawak on the terms of autonomy and fairer oil royalties.
Renegotiate Sarawak's resources
Meanwhile, See took note that Petronas
might send its officials to meet Douglas, and said the state government
should not make any concession a piecemeal affair.
“(The state government must) demand that
the federal government should meet with the state government to
renegotiate and agree on the new arrangements to jointly develop our
petroleum resources in Sarawak,” said See.
The state assemblyperson said the terms
and conditions of the tripartite Petroleum Development Agreement between
the state government, the federal government and Petronas should first
be revisited and renegotiated.
“Sarawak should be the ultimate
decision-maker in determining the shares of equity and direct
participation of Sarawak state corporations in the new Production
Sharing Contracts (PSCs) which are involved in the production and
development of oil and gas and related products in Sarawak.
“Sarawak should be the equity shareholder and Sarawak state-owned corporations should be a partner in existing PSCs which are coming up for extension,” he added.
See said Petronas should also immediately
set up a branch campus of its Universiti Teknologi Petronas in Sarawak
to ensure that more opportunities are given to Sarawakians.
“The state government must now seize the
opportunity to turn the state from a passive recipient of petroleum
royalty to be a serious participant in the oil and gas industry.
“Being the decision-maker in determining
the development of our natural resources will also allow the state to
conserve our exhaustible natural resources, to ensure that it is
sustainable for the benefit of our future generation,” said See.
No comments:
Post a Comment