Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must seize the opportunity to do good on his promises of a clean, efficient and transparent government when tabling the Ninth Malaysian Plan (9MP) tomorrow, said Parti Keadilan Rakyat advisor Anwar Ibrahim.

According to him, Abdullah's leadership is tainted by 'uncoordinated words and actions' and he should start rectifying this.

An ideal place to start, noted the former deputy premier and finance minister, was to make the state-owned oil giant Petronas answerable to Parliament.

"To begin, Abdullah should report to parliament the results of Petronas' statutory duty as custodian of the national oil and gas resources," he said in a statement yesterday.

Anwar said the premier must reveal Petronas' revenues that run into hundreds of billions from Production Sharing Contracts with major oil companies.

Abdullah, who is also finance minister, will table the 9MP in Parliament tomorrow. It is a five-year development blueprint which outlines the government's strategies and agendas.

It will be the premier's first blueprint since taking over the reigns from Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2003.

Major player

Meanwhile, Anwar said he emphasised on Petronas because it played a major role in the nation's future development plan.

"As the federal government's revenue is fully absorbed by operating expenditure, Petronas almost fully finances the nation's development projects. It must be taken care of," he added.

He said among the questions that remain unanswered is the status of Petronas' Tabung Warisan - a fund set-up 20 years ago with the aim to help the government when the country becomes a net importer of oil in the future.

"Annually, a sum from Petronas' revenue is contributed to Tabung Warisan. It has been 20 years. What is the amount?" he asked.

Anwar also expressed concern about the oil company's excessive involvement in sporting activities in particular the high-profile Formula One (F-1).

"A lot of money has been spent on sponsoring Sauber and developing F-1 engines. While Petronas remains title sponsor of the Petronas Grand Prix, it has been edged out by BMW in the Sauber team. The transfer of technology is a non-starter," he said.

Policies must change

While commending the management of Petronas for the company's commercial activities, Anwar warned about transfer pricing in the group as this hid inefficiencies.

"Pressure for greater transparency was partially alleviated via the flotation of Petronas downstream subsidiaries like Petronas Gas, Petronas Dagangan and KLCC properties," he said.

He added that Petronas' refining activities have the potential for public floatation in the Bursa Malaysia stating that the flotation would help Petronas reduce its high-level debts.

In another development, PKR vice-president Azmin Ali told malaysiakini that key financial players in Asia have expressed concern over the situation in Malaysia.

These concerns were conveyed to Anwar when he met a group of high-profile corporate leaders from Hong Kong and China in a conference organised by Giam Asia and Credit Suisse recently.

"They are concerned with the present situation here stressing a need for reformations and more transparent policies.

"It is obvious that if things remain unchanged, Malaysia will lose out to her neighbours," said Azmin, who accompanied Anwar to the conference in Hong Kong.