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DAP: Sarawak must bring 2 Acts on oil and gas rights to court

FMT Reporters

Bukit Assek rep Irene Chang urges Sarawak CM Abang Johari to bring matter to state assembly for a vote on having federal laws declared null and void in court.

Bukit Assek assemblyman Irene Chang says Sarawak government must table bill in state assembly to challenge PDA and TSA in court.

PETALING JAYA: A Sarawak DAP leader says the only way for Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg to redeem himself following his claim that the Petroleum Development Act 1976 (PDA) and the Territorial Sea Act 2012 (TSA) are null and void is by taking the issue to court.
Irene Mary Chang, who is Sarawak DAP director of women’s affairs’ bureau, said it was wrong of Johari to say that these two laws are not applicable in Sarawak anymore following his announcement on Tuesday that the state would assume full regulatory authority over the upstream and downstream aspects of the oil and gas industry in Sarawak.
“To declare these two legislations as null and void and therefore have no application in Sarawak, the CM has to first bring the matter before the Courts of Law for such a declaration.
“And until the Courts declare as such, the acts are in force and are applicable in Sarawak. To say otherwise is to give people false hope and the state government owes it to the people to set the matter right,” she said.
The Bukit Assek assemblywoman further questioned if the state government would do the right thing by taking the issue to the state legislative assembly to pass a motion to review the two Acts and thereafter to get a Court Order to declare them as null and void and are therefore not applicable in Sarawak.
“Does the state BN government have the political will to go up to the prime minister and the Federal Government to do this?
“Have they got the political courage to go up to their masters in the peninsula to tell them that since they believe that the Acts are not applicable, Petronas should immediately cease operation in Sarawak waters?
“Or are they just going to continue to allow Petronas and Putrajaya to continue swallowing up a major chunk of the revenues earned from our oil and gas and to accept a mere 5% royalty in return,” Chang asked.
She added that it was time for the state government to come clean and admit that they had allowed daylight robbery to be committed in Sarawak for the past 44 years.
“They need to prove their sincerity in claiming back what rightfully belongs to Sarawak.
“The state government might even have the legal right to demand for the return of all the revenues earned from the resources from 1974 until now,” she said.

My Comments:
When the court of justice is no longer just in practice, bringing the cases to the court may bring Sarawak into a trouble water.   Abuse of power and corruption are not allowed by the law but the political thugs just go ahead with the practice.  Many political thugs have built up mega ill-gotten wealth through illegal acts.

Now PDA and TSA were passed against the ruling of MA63.  Why should we bring the unconstitutional acts to court to set it right?  This is the question.  That is why Sarawak should go ahead with our rights as stipulated in MA63.