We are just calling a spade “a spade” as contrary to the allegation of Abdul Karim that the DAP and PKR are “pouring cold water” over Abang Jo’s effort to claim the State’s right over the exploration of the State’s oil and gas.
With the existence of the Petroleum Development Act 1976 (PDA), the ownership of all oil and gas have been vested in PETRONAS. The Territorial Sea Act 2012 (TSA) has further reinforced that position by limiting Sarawak’s territorial to a mere 3 nautical mile from the shore of Sarawak.
Under our legal system, any law passed in Malaysia and duly gazetted to come into force is deemed to be good law until it is repealed or the Federal Court declares it to be unconstitutional and null and void. Other than the Federal Court, no one, not even the prime minister, can declare a law passed in Parliament to be null and void.
Therefore, Abang Jo’s statement claiming that the PDA and TSA are null and void is a manifestation of his ignorance of the legal system in Malaysia. He can repeat such claim for another 100 times, but if these two laws were not repealed or amended to exclude its application to Sarawak or declared unconstitutional by the Federal Court, Abang Jo’s claim will remain mere “hot air”, an act of “shiok sendiri”.
As a person who holds a law degree and also a legislator for many years, Abdul Karim should know this fundamental principle of the law in Malaysia.
Despite the self-declared rights of Abang Jo, the cold hard facts remains that
- Sarawak’s entitlement to the oil and gas royalties remains a meagre 5%;
- the remaining revenues generated from the exploration of oil and gas remains with the Federal Government and PETRONAS;
- the ultimate ownership and control of the oil and gas industry in Sarawak remains with PETRONAS and the Prime Minister; and
- all PETRONAS pump stations will remain PETRONAS pump stations and will not be converted to PETROS pump station.
These are facts that Abdul Karim can refute.
As such, I call upon Abdul Karim and Abang Jo to be truthful to the people of Sarawak and not disguise the continued exploitation of our resources by the BN Government with such laughable rhetoric of Abang Jo’s mere pronouncement of “the PDA and TSA are null and void”.