KUCHING, Dec 24 — In his Christmas Eve’s message today, Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg has urged the public against dwelling on ethno-religious issues that he claimed may undermine the existing unity and harmony in the state.

He said the state has a bright future as long as the people of various ethnic and religious backgrounds do not squander it.

‘We must work together to develop Sarawak into a digitalised economy, leveraging on our rich natural resources and human talent,” the chief minister said.

He said despite the dire consequences of Covid-19, he is highly confident that Sarawak can still be on track to achieve a developed and high-income status by 2030.

“This is not a hollow confidence because our economic fundamentals are strong, our policies structured and realigned after Covid-19, while our political stability is the envy of others,” he stressed.

Abang Johari added the recent signing of the Commercial Settlement Agreement (CSA) with Petronas has added confidence to the state to derive more revenue from its oil and gas resources, besides the mere five per cent royalty that Sarawak used to receive, on average RM700 to RM800 million a year.

He said the petroleum sales tax at five per cent, of which Sarawak’s power to impose is recognised by the court, has given a new stream of revenue of about RM3.2 billion every year.

“The CSA also paved the way for Sarawak to participate actively in the upstream and downstream activities of our oil and gas resources through Petros, the state’s oil and gas company,” he said, adding that Sarawak is the only state where onshore oil mining will be revived with two leases already granted to Petros.

Despite criticism from certain quarters, he stressed the CSA gives a better deal for Sarawak and no less important, reaffirms Sarawak’s right over its oil and gas resources and the validity of the Oil Mining Ordinance 1958.

On the Christmas celebration, he said it is a bit sad that the Christian community will not be able to celebrate the occasion as they used to due to restrictions during this time of Covid-19.

“This time around you may not be able to have full services in churches, organise Christmas parade, or visit friends and relatives on Christmas day all because of the need to restrict our movement to contain the spread of Covid-19 infection.

“So far with the hard work of the State Disaster Management Committee, the dedication of our frontline personnel and the co-operation of our people, our state has been able to control the infection to single digit,” he said.

The chief minister praise the social and religious institutions, particularly churches, for their co-operative by observing the SOPs and he sincerely hopes that everybody will continue to abide by the SOPs to stop the chain of infection.

“With travel restrictions imposed, I am aware that some who are staying outside Sarawak now, may not be able to return to their hometowns, kampungs, longhouses or villages for fear this will cause another spike in infections,” he said, hoping that all who are affected understand the need for them to be strict with the SOPs.

He said the Covid-19 pandemic has caused extensive damages to the state’s economy, pointing out that businesses, big and small, have to struggle to stay afloat, and workers who are laid off have to find other ways to put food on the table for their families.

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/12/24/in-xmas-eve-address-sarawak-cm-urges-public-to-stay-away-from-divisive-ethn/1934693