As scandal rocks Malaysian government, B.C. pushes LNG deal with state-owned gas giant
Christy Clark is recklessly planning on linking the next generation
in BC to the Malaysian government, which in the last few days has
headed into the worst financial and political scandal in its recent
history – the latest in a long history of questionable government
behaviour.
The B.C. legislature is now sitting, at Premier Clark’s behest, in a
rare summer session whose sole purpose is passing legislation to
facilitate a sweetheart financial deal with Petronas, the giant
Malaysian oil and gas company. Petronas wants to build a massive plant
to liquefy fracked gas on tiny Lelu Island in the center of prime salmon habitat at the mouth of the Skeena River.
Petronas is wholly owned by the Malaysian government (which has been
controlled by a single ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional, for the last
50 years). Petronas supplies the Malaysian government with as much as 45
per cent of its budget, according to Reuters.
On July 2, the Wall Street Journal broke the story in
Western media. Citing leaked documents, now published on the Internet,
the Wall Street Journal has shown convincing evidence of nearly US$700 million in money transferred to the personal bank account of Malaysian president Najib Razak.
Does Christy Clark care about this latest turn of events? Apparently
not. She’s moving ahead with “the largest private investment in the
province’s history,” specifically designed to give “investor certainty”
to the scandal-ridden Malaysian government.
This latest money-making scheme is nothing new. The Malaysian government has done this before. To quote the Wall Street Journal:
“A government investment scheme is launched with grandiose promises
of moving up the value chain and other economic jargon. Then the asset
stripping begins. If the project goes reasonably well, the ruling party
has an accomplishment to point to, with the high costs conveniently
forgotten. If it fails, public money bails it out in some form, with the
state-owned oil monopoly Petronas the ultimate backstop.”
BC Liberals must have known about this track record when they decided
to engage in a massive deal with the company that backstops a
corruption-plagued regime. They must have privately realized that the
Razak government is not necessarily the best business partner to hand a
contract that guarantees no changes in tariffs for 23 years.
The embattled Malaysian Prime Minister is currently involved in yet
another scandal involving money: it has refused to release key documents
to the Australian government outlining “improper dealings” related to
printing Malaysian cash on polymer material.
Perhaps this Malaysia-Australia scandal has served as a model for
Premier Clark? Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott tried
(ineffectively, it turned out, thanks to WikiLeaks) to hide the names of
the leading Malaysian and other politicians involved in that particular
scandal.
By this standard, it makes sense that Christy Clark scrupulously
avoids comment on the Malaysian government’s history and potential for
future fiscal disasters.
Far from giving British Columbians a safe and secure economic future,
the B.C. Premier — intent on signing with Petronas as soon as possible —
is simply propping up a corruption-plagued government whose primary
source of rescue remedies is the $160 billion fossil fuel company, which
contributes heavily to global warming.
With all the talk in investment circles of needing to leave most
fossil fuel reserves in the ground, and a looming “carbon bubble,”
Premier Christy Clark’s obsession with signing as soon as possible with
Petronas looks more and more like reckless indifference towards major
risks to British Columbia's future.
This deal should not go through.
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