Where has Petronas money gone, asks Dr M
Over the past three decades since Petronas was set up, the national oil company has contributed almost half a trillion ringgit to the government’s coffers - RM426.6 billion to be exact.
Over the past three decades since Petronas was set up, the national oil company has contributed almost half a trillion ringgit to the government’s coffers - RM426.6 billion to be exact.
But where has all the money gone to? That’s what former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad wants to know.
In his latest blog posting, Mahathir said it would be “interesting” to find out how the billions and billions of ringgit had been spent.
In particular, he zoomed in on the six years since he stepped down as the country’s leader.
According to Mahathir, during his 22 years at the helm between 1981 and 2003, Petronas paid RM168.8 billion to the government.
However, that figure jump dramatically in recent years due to the sharp hike in global oil prices.
“The total for those six years is RM253.6 billion,” Mahathir wrote in his Chedet blog.
“I am sure the government has spent the money wisely. It would be interesting to know what the RM253.6 billion was spent on.”
According to figures provided by Mahathir, who is Petronas adviser, the government received RM300 million in 1976 - two years after the state-owned oil company was incorporated.
“The amount increased to RM2 billion in 1981. By 2003, it paid RM15.6 billion to the federal government,” said Mahathir.
“From then onwards, it increased from RM19 billion in 2004 to RM67.8 billion in 2009.”
Dr M’s son bailed out by Petronas
Mahathir may want to conveniently forget about how Petronas funds were used when he was prime minister.
During his time, critics had also demanded to know how the money contributed by Petronas had been spent.
In 2003, when Mahathir was appointed Petronas adviser by his hand-picked successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, a top opposition leader decried “conflict of interests”
PKR deputy leader Syed Husin Ali argued that Mahathir was unfit to be Petronas adviser as the oil company had funded some of the country's mega-projects during the his premiership.
Among the mega-projects funded by Petronas during the Mahathir era included the Twin Towers, Putrajaya and Proton City.
Its funds were also used to bail out politically well-connected companies - Bank Bumiputra, Renong and the Malaysian International Shipping Corporation (MISC) which was then headed by Mahathir’s son Mirzan.
