Posted by Din Merican (June 3, 2008 )
By Anil Netto
So the figure has been revealed. Petronas’ group profit before taxes, royalties, dividends and export duties amounted to RM570 billion for the period from its establishment in 1974 to 31 March 2007.
If you include the figure for the period until 31 March 2008, then you are probably looking at a figure closer to RM700 billion, with the higher oil prices.
Let’s see the breakdown of that RM570 billion:
Payments to the government (royalties, export duties, taxes and dividends) – RM359 billion
Allocations for shareholders, royalties and taxes abroad – RM41 billion
Profits re-invested in Petronas operations – RM170 billion
Total RM570 billion
(In case you are wondering where I got these figures from, they are from an oral response in Parliament to a question put forward to the Prime Minister by the MP for Bagan, Lim Guan Eng.)
So the government has received RM359 billion from Petronas over the years. If we include the year ended 31 March 2008, the figure would be in the RM400 billion range.
The big question is, has the government made the best use of all that money? You and I know the answer to that. If the money had been used effectively, we could have provided affordable housing for everyone in this land, invested in an excellent public transport system and come up with a first class public health care system providing universal access to all Malaysians.
But have we? Look how much has been wasted and squandered over the years. And let’s not forget all the natural gas subsidies dished out by Petronas to the Independent Power Producers (private electricity companies), which have been raking in billions in profits over the years. And don’t forget the billions spent on bailing out banks.
It is truly a lost opportunity, considering that we will soon become a net importer of oil in a few years’ time.
Why, very few Malaysians have access to Petronas’ detailed accounts. Where is the accountability and transparency in the use of these massive amounts of public funds?
Din Merican: the Malaysian DJ Blogger 
Where did the money go? Well, from what we can visibly see, there are white elephants such as the (in)famous Putrajaya, what I call Mahathir’s Folly, Cyberjaya (must be worth quite a few billions into the pockets of the sons and cronies), KL Tower (the most useless building in the country) and KLCC (check out the empty office space between the 2 towers!). What we DON’T see, are the billions outside the country in the accounts of the sons and cronies of Mahathir; and more recently Badawi’s sons (don’t forget the s-i-l) and his cronies.
Barry, we can all suspect what happened to all those money that truly belongs to the rakyat.
I don’t think the Prime Minister is interested to answer your questions unless Pakatan MPs demands which I think they should, that the PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi takes upon himself the responsibility to give a detailed answer in Parliament. The rakyat are all eyes and ears and we want to know what actually happened to all our missing money?
Having said that I am quite certain he will sheepishly evade answering. For all we know he and his Jeanne may again be planning his next overseas trip (enjoy while he can!) now that he has been somewhat assured by all those ‘jantan’ UMNO MPs of their allegience.
I wonder if Mukhriz Mahathir will speak up in Parliament and press for the Prime Minister’s answer in writing?
Oh, I am sure Badawi is not interested in providing the answers as to where the money has gone. He is busy helping himself with what’s left of it before it completely dries up. The fact is, the monkeys in UMNO truly believe that the money is theirs for their helping. If anyone of us ‘ungrateful pendatang2’ dares to ask any question, the keris is unsheathed complete with threats of Chinese blood etc etc.
sometimes i just wondering how people just like to complain / comment without knowing the facts. As per what Barry wrote …check out the empty office space in KLCC? What a load of misguided information. Do you know that the office space are so full that companies has to be in waiting list to get an office space? Some people like to embarrass himself for being ignorant and listen to mamak stall talks. Or maybe Barry only sees Taipei 101 of being the best ever investment made by anybody in the world.
straw, hahaha when they put you on the “waiting list” for office space, does not mean it’s all full. They are just being selective if you know what I mean.
straw,
My company has an office near KLCC and from there, you can see clearly that most of the floors in twin towers are EMPTY! So, unless there invisible or ‘waiting to move in’, my conclusion remains the same – that the KLCC office spaces are mainly left empty. I don’t give a shit about Taipei 101 or the world’s tallest, greatest building, I live in Malaysia and I see the wastages going on and I want them stopped. I am in the telecommunication industry and I can tell you that the KL Tower, the ‘tallest building in the world’ once upon a time, serves no purpose other than to be ‘the tallest building in the world’ – we can easily find a hill nearby to set up the transmission tower.
straw,
Petronas is filthy rich, feels they do not need those rentals so they’d rather keep those floors empty and be selective about their tenants.
There’s security reasons to consider too. So if they don’t like your face and reputation, too bad you’ll be on “waiting list” forever lah! 😀
Do not give up on Petronas twin towers just yet, although it may not be the ‘tallest building in the world’ anymore, Malaysians will soon hang that gutter politician Dr Mahathir Mohamed from its tower for the publicity that he rightly deserves.
But the question now is what is taking the Attorney General so long since the release of the RCI Report of Lingamtape? Attorney General Petai should resign if he continues to drag his feet. That’s incompetence. Chickening out at this hour is not an option for him, that will be ‘dereliction of duty!
Jong has a point… the KLCC is still useful…
Let hang the s/o Iskandar Kutty and the petai fellow for all the money they have swindled from the white elephand projects!!
Ooops sorry to insult the humble petai with the traitor.. Anyone have any “nice names” for these assholes…mahatahi, petail pundek, lingam asshole
the waiting list is a sales ploy…
Petronas still got big profit..???
WOW… it’s very great, comparing from my country, indonesia, Pertamina still loss money for making profit.
http://www.kotajepara.com