By Peter Sibon
KUCHING, June 12: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan has been appointed as the chief negotiator for the State Government to negotiate with the Federal Government and Petronas on how best Sarawak could participate in the oil and gas industry.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg made the announcement after chairing Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Supreme Council meeting at PBB headquarters here today.
“Tax is one thing but what about our participation in the oil and gas industry. That’s why the committee (under Awang Tengah) was set up so that we can participate in the oil and gas industry,” he said.
Besides Awang Tengah, other members of the negotiation team are Assistant Minister of Law, State-Federal Relations and Project Monitoring Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, State Attorney General Datu Talat Mahmood Abdul Rashid, State Legal Counsel Datuk Seri JC Fong, director of Economic Planning Unit (EPU) Dr Muhammad Abdullah Zaidel and Petros chief executive officer Datuk Sauu Kakok.
“We have a working committee (under Awang Tengah) which has an executive power to negotiate with Petronas and also the Federal Government,” he said.
Abang Johari stated that the other negotiating team led by Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, which was appointed by the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) State Consultative Committee (SCC), would tackle the legal aspects.
Besides Abdul Karim, four other members who were appointed by the committee are State Legislative Assembly deputy Speaker Datuk Gerawat Gala, PBB information chief Datuk Idris Buang, SUPP secretary-general Datuk Sebastian Ting and Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) member See Chee How.
SCC chairman and DUN Speaker Datuk Amar Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar had made the announcement that Abdul Karim would be its chief negotiator after chairing SCC on June 10 (Wednesday)
Meanwhile, a senior PBB leader told DayakDaily that the state government had set up the two negotiating teams to ensure that Sarawak would have a strong representation to spearhead its rights over its oil and gas resources. —DayakDaily.
