Petronas is an “elephant” in financial and performance terms

Petronas is an “elephant” in financial and performance terms 

Who is checking the Petronas accounts? (DE letter dated 10 March, 2019) deserves a response. Who can remain silent or indifferent for so long since 1974 with the Petroleum Development Act, 1974?

Actually, I did lodge two Police Reports on Petronas as far as they affect Sabah in all aspects of the oil exploration and the performance thereof.  The two Police Report are (1) Petronas Sabah  KK/rpt/27530/04 on 21 Dec 2004 on Petronas and its performance and impact on the welfare of Sabah. Why has this become an issue after 28 years since 1976? And (2) the Petroleum Development Act and Petronas, PM; National Petroleum Advisory Council L/002072/08 on 11/7/ 08. 

Performance of Petronas based on Sales revenue from 2004 to 2017 of a roller coaster trend from a high of RM329.1billion (2014) to low of RM97.5 b (2004) as listed as RM97.5b (2004) RM137.0b (2005)   RM167.4b (2006)   RM184.1b (2007)   RM223.1b (2008)  RM264.2b (2009)    RM210.8b (2010)  RM241.2b(2011)  RM291.0b (2012)    RM317.5b (2013)  RM329.1b (2014)     RM235.0b (2015) RM195.1b (2016)  RM223.6b (2017). (Source: Petronas website).  It has been rising from 2004 to 2009 and then down in 2010 and up and down until 2017. Who can give the explanation to such inconsistent performance?  Can such extreme volatility happen to any public or private companies and yet remain in business without any issues?  The value of the Ringgit in 2008 (RM223.1b) is not the same as in 2017 (RM223.6b) when purchasing power has greatly declined in 2017 hence any comparison in pure figure can be meaningless in term of performance. 

How accurate, transparent and accountable are the reports without subject to independent scrutiny especially it is now assumed that Petronas had a free hand to do as it liked prior to Company Act 2016 (CA 2016)?  

Since CA 2016, Petronas had posted a note in its website as “The Company and the following subsidiary companies, have been granted a relief order pursuant to Section 255(1) of the Companies Act, 2016 relieving the Directors of the companies form (from?) full compliance to the requirements under Section 253(2) of the Companies Act, 2016” (source: Annual Report 2017).

Also in the website, there is a standard notice restricting the public to use the data of Petronas with legal implication for such use.

So “Who is checking the Petronas accounts?” brings back some hollowness when Section 253 (2) of CA 2016 is an “approved” violation or departure from compliance in good governance. Petronas and its massive group of companies had been audited by a range of public auditors but not supervised by the Auditor General.

On 25^th March, 2019 Institute for Development Studies (IDS) together with G25 Malaysia and C4 held a Sabah Forum on Institutional Governance and Reform of GLCs where the Sabah CM Datuk Seri Shafie Afdal officiated and gave a key note address on such important matters faced by the State and the nation. 

We are aware that Petronas has a governance issue and much reform is needed but nothing is making any headway to deal with the “elephant” in the nation.

So I suggest strongly that a Royal Commission of Inquiry be instituted to look at the following agenda namely its performance for decades without public scrutiny, its affairs with the two major zones of oil in Sabah and Sarawak, the volatility of revenue especially in recent two decades, the noncompliance of PDA 1974 and now the CA 2016 as to the governance, its global connections, its outsourcing and Production Sharing Contracts, Joint Venture Agreements and other commercial undertaking as adverse impact on the gross revenue, various key indicators and debts servicing plus role in public affairs including fair distribution of the corporate social responsibilities.

Joshua Y C  Kong 28/03/2019

TB can be a demographic disaster for Sabah with low local population

TB can be a demographic disaster for Sabah with low local population

There was a recent headline in front page of a local paper (BP) as ”TB vaccination for all” (March 1, 2019) and then a Ministry Of Health declared that only children would be vaccinated (5 March, 2019).

The question begging an answer is that why only in 2019 such drastic action be initiated when it was known back in 2000 as items such as “Serious Rise in Sabah TB (DE 1 April, 2000) and “Sabah has the highest TB cases” (DE 4 July, 2000) were simply ignored by the Government then?

Are we now in a pandemic scenario? I hope the Government should take immediate measure to curb the health menace. Vaccination for adult may not fully address this sort of health crisis or rather the Government set up facilities to detect such cases for curing possibility made easy.

Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria that spread from person to person through microscopic droplets released into the air. This can happen when someone with the untreated, active form of tuberculosis coughs, speaks, sneezes, spits, laughs or sings. Although tuberculosis is contagious, it's not easy to catch.

In some countries, BCG injections are given to children to vaccinate them against tuberculosis. It is not recommended for general use in the U.S. because it is not effective in adults, and it can adversely influence the results of skin testing diagnoses.

The most important thing to do is to finish entire courses of medication when they are prescribed. MDR-TB bacteria are far deadlier than regular TB bacteria. Some cases of MDR-TB require extensive courses of chemotherapy, which can be expensive and cause severe adverse drug reactions in patients.

People with compromised immune systems are most at risk of developing active tuberculosis. For instance, HIV suppresses the immune system, making it harder for the body to control TB bacteria. People who are infected with both HIV and TB are around 20-30 percent more likely to develop active TB than those who do not have HIV.

Tobacco use has also been found to increase the risk of developing active TB. About 8 percent of TB cases worldwide are related to smoking.

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that usually affects the lungs. Compared with other diseases caused by a single infectious agent, tuberculosis is the second biggest killer, globally.

I would like to share what I personally about two cases – one in my childhood days when an uncle was so cleanliness conscious that he would clean even banana and other fruits skin with soap but it was later reported he died of TB at a young age.

For myself, I think I had BCG as a school boy in Labuan born after the 2^nd World War and that could have saved me the attack of TB in the late 1970s when I was in London.  I came back to Kota Kinabalu in 1980 and a few years later I went back to London looking up for a close colleague who was dead from an advance stage of TB. I was told to have mandatory full check up in the local hospital as I used to share his home in various visits then.

Strangely when I came to the said hospital the nurse came to me with big eyes. Then I had the X-ray and to come back a few days for the result and unfortunately the X-ray film was black also a shock for the nurse. So I had to have a repeat of X-ray within days. The second X-ray came out fine and no treatment was prescribed for me. So I was cleared of TB.  Who can explain how I escaped the death call of TB sort of  miracle?

Would we all now address the “curse” and scourge of TB brought about by the massive presence of PTI in Sabah without fail for the consequence of belated action is unthinkable when TB is the second highest killer globally?

Joshua Y C Kong 6/3/2019