Pakatan Rakyat’s alternative budget for 2013 is pledging a “new deal” for Sabah and Sarawak, said DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang.

Lim, in a statement yesterday, said the ‘deal’ will address infrastructure development and “fundamental rights”  issues of the Borneo states as outlined at the formation of Malaysia in 1963.

The deal, he said, reaffirms the seven points outlined in Pakatan’s Kuching Declaration announced on Sept 16.

These include hiking state oil royalties from 5 percent to 20 percent for Sabah and Sarawak as well as to other oil producing states such as Terengganu and Kelantan.

Apart from the declaration, Lim said state-owned second-tier oil and gas companies will be established in all oil-producing states “to benefit from the financial investments made into marginal fields through risk-sharing contracts (RSCs)”.

“The state-owned oil and gas companies will be nurtured to be able to compete internationally in the future in anticipation of reduced reserves in Malaysia,” he said.

The deal, said the Ipoh Timor MP, also includes transport infrastructure in the form of “complete and upgraded Pan-Borneo Highway connecting Kuching to Kota Kinabalu and the east coast of Sabah” and an study on upgrading and extending the rail network in the two states.

On Malaysia Day on Sept 16,  Pakatan launched their declaration focussing on fulfilling the 20-point Malaysia Agreement that the Borneo states had forged with Malaya at the formation of modern day Malaysia.

The ruling BN government has been heavily criticised for ignoring the agreement to the detriment of the two states, that now rank among the poorest in the country despite its wealth of natural resources.