By Daniel John Jambun
President
Borneo Plight in Malaysia Foundation (BoPiMaFo)
KOTA KINABALU — The Borneo Plight in Malaysia Foundation (BoPiMaFo) today rebutted Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s claim that the Federal Government “gives more than it gets” from Sabah, calling it factually misleading and insensitive to the realities of fiscal imbalance that Sabah has endured for decades.
Federal Has Taken Billions from Sabah’s Natural Wealth
Since the formation of PETRONAS in 1974, billions of ringgit worth of oil and gas have been extracted from Sabah’s waters, yet the bulk of the proceeds have flowed to the Federal Treasury.
Official data shows that between 1974 and 2011, PETRONAS contributed over RM653 billion in payments to the federal and state governments combined — but only a tiny fraction reached Sabah.
Even the Prime Minister’s Department has acknowledged that between 1976 and 2023, Sabah received about RM23 billion in petroleum revenue, while the Federal Government also collected around RM23 billion from Sabah’s oil production.
In other words, Putrajaya has taken an equal — if not larger — share of Sabah’s oil wealth, even though the resources originate from Sabah’s territory.
Importantly, these figures exclude revenues from the broader upstream and downstream oil and gas industries — such as corporate taxes, export duties, refinery operations, shipping, and petrochemical activities — all of which are taxed and recorded at the federal level.
This means the Federal Government’s actual financial gain from Sabah’s petroleum resources is many times greater than the official figures suggest.
New Data Confirms Sabah’s Huge Contribution
Recent parliamentary data further proves how much Sabah contributes to the national petroleum wealth.
Between 2018 and 2024 alone, PETRONAS’ upstream oil and gas activities in Sabah generated RM205 billion in revenue, compared to RM285 billion from Sarawak and RM284 billion from Peninsular Malaysia.
This figure refers only to upstream production, excluding all downstream activities such as refining, liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing, petrochemicals, shipping, and export taxes, which are collected directly by the Federal Government.
In other words, while Sabah contributed more than a quarter of Malaysia’s total upstream petroleum revenue — an estimated RM205 billion — the state’s return remains disproportionately small.
If downstream and corporate taxes were included, the Federal Government’s total gain from Sabah’s petroleum resources would likely exceed RM300 billion over the same period.
This further demolishes the narrative that Putrajaya “gives more than it takes” from Sabah.
The numbers clearly show that Sabah has been giving far more than it receives, and the imbalance continues year after year.
Federal Allocations Are Not a Gift
Federal allocations to Sabah are not gifts from Putrajaya, but part of the constitutional revenue-sharing obligations agreed under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and codified in Articles 112C and 112D of the Federal Constitution.
Yet, even those allocations are often delayed, underspent, or withheld.
Official records show that only about 60% of federal allocations to Sabah are typically spent, with the remainder returned to the Federal Treasury due to bureaucratic inefficiencies and direct federal control over projects.
This is why, despite “billions in announcements” every year, Sabah continues to face dilapidated schools, poor healthcare, and inadequate infrastructure.
BoPiMaFo’s Stand
BoPiMaFo stresses that Sabah’s wealth and constitutional rights must be respected and restored, not treated as political bargaining chips.
If the Federal Government is sincere about justice for Sabah, it must:
Return full control and management of oil and gas resources to the State Government;
Channel all federal allocations through Sabah’s Consolidated Fund; and
Immediately implement the 40% revenue entitlement as ruled by the High Court, without further delay or appeal.
