POLITICAL analyst Prof Dr James Chin challenged former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s sincerity toward Sabah and Sarawak, questioning why the PETRONAS Twin Towers were not built in Kuching or Kota Kinabalu.
Responding to Mahathir’s claim that Sarawak’s push for oil and gas control harms the nation, Chin criticised Mahathir’s centralised power approach and minimal support for the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
He accused Mahathir of treating Sabah and Sarawak as resource “piggybanks” for PETRONAS and the federal government, urging Malaysians to reject Mahathir’s view of Borneo’s subservience.
“If he truly cared about Sabah and Sarawak, why weren’t the towers built in Kuching or Kota Kinabalu? Why wasn’t PETRONAS headquartered in KK or Kuching?” he said.
“Am I wrong to say that for over 50 years, PETRONAS and the federal government have treated Sabah and Sarawak’s oil and gas as a piggybank?” James added.
“Malaysians must not listen to Dr Mahathir, claiming that the latter believed Sabahans and Sarawakians should remain subservient to Malaya. This is wrong on every level,” he further pointed out. —May 11, 2025
Main image: Dewan Masyarakat
