Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg said for a person to be appointed as a board member of the newly formed Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros) he or she must be very experienced in the oil and gas industry.

He was responding to a question posed by a reporter who asked when he was going to appoint a Dayak representative in Petros board of directors.

"Actually there is already a Dayak representative in the board by the name of Mohd Medan Abdullah, who is a Muslim Kelabit," he said here today.

The Chief Minister' Office had recently announced the appointment of former state secretary Tan Sri Hamid Bugo, who once served with Malaysia LNG Sdn Bhd in Bintulu, as chairman of Petros. Hamid has also been chairman of oil and gas firm Sapura Resources Bhd since March last year.

The other Petros board members announced are Mohd Medan, Sharbini Suhaili, Zuraimi Sabki and Heng Hock Cheng, whom Abang Johari had described as "experienced industry professionals with very strong and proven track records and had served in key positions in the oil and gas industry".

Lately Abang Johari has received criticisms from the Dayak community (Iban and Bidayuh) for not appointing representatives from the two communities.

Following the widespread criticisms in the social media, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah had said that the chief minister has tasked him to look for a qualified Dayak to be in the board.

The Chief Minister also reminded these individuals and groups not to play with religious issue in the appointment of the board members.

Petros will enable the Sarawak government to participate in upstream oil and gas development, particularly in the exploration and extraction of oil and gas within state waters.

The state government said the initiative would create jobs for locals and draw expertise from outside the state.

"Petros is now embarking on a headhunt for a CEO and other key management positions to enable it to be operational by the first quarter of next year," he said, adding that Petros would not be a junior partner to Petronas, the national oil company

--BERNAMA