Opposition parties have come out to oppose the take-over of the state-owned power utility company Sarawak Electricity Corporation (Sesco) by public-listed Sarawak Enterprise Corporation Bhd (SECB).

A Sarawak DAP delegation is to hand over a note of protest either to the Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud or his deputy Dr George Chan against the privatisation of the state-owned power utility company tomorrow morning.

The delegation will be led by newly-elected Bandar Kuching member of parliament Chong Chieng Jen ( pix ) and will include the sole opposition assemblyman Chiew Chin Sing and state party treasurer Voon Lee Shan.

If the chief minister and his deputy are not on hand, they will hand the protest note to Chiew, the state assemblyman for Kidurong, for him to hand over to state government leaders during the current Sarawak state assembly sitting.

Chong told malaysiakini today the party opposed the privatisation as it would not benefit the people of Sarawak except for "politically-linked businessmen and a small group who are already wealthy."

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed recently indicated that publicly-listed SECB is to have a 100% ownership control of Sesco, the state's sole agency for power generation, transmission and distribution in Sarawak.

'Daylight robbery'

Chong questioned why the terms and conditions of the MoU were not made public, saying that the people of Sarawak had every right to know, as it belonged to the state.

Sesco has assets worth about RM4 billion.

He said electricity tariffs in Sarawak were the highest in the country, and with privatisation, he feared consumers would be further burdened.

Keadilan, meanwhile, said the move to privatise Sesco lacked transparency and they questioned the need for "a well-run and managed and already profitable state-owned utility company to be placed to be placed in the hands of a private entity."

Keadilan this morning distributed letters opposing the Sesco take-over by SECB to all 62 elected state assemblypersons at the start of the week-long sitting.

A state Keadilan leader Dominque Ng ,who signed the letter, described the take-over as 'daylight robbery.'

Two subsidiaries

SECB was formerly known as Dunlop Estates Bhd (DEB). On Jan 31, 1996, the Sarawak government acquired a controlling stake in the company in exchange for 45 percent of Sesco.

Sesco, under licence from the state government, generates transmits and distributes power to factories, offices and homes. It has a total installed capacity of about 866 MW, of which 300MW come from its two independent power producers (IPPs), Sejingakat Power and Sarawak Power Generation, which are also its subsidiary companies.

State Minister for Public Utilities and Finance Dr George Chan told reporters after the signing of the MoU that the state government still had a controlling stake in SECB, implying that the state still has control over Sesco.