In replying to SUPP's claims, DAP man says law, once gazetted, can only be repealed by parliament or declared null by court

By Dr Kelvin Yii

SUPP’s objection toward Bandar Kuching Chong Chieng Jen’s intention to table a motion in Parliament to amend the Petroleum Development Act 1974 shows not just its ignorance of the legal system in Malaysia, but also is tantamount to betrayal of the interest of the people of Sarawak.

We are not disputing that fact that based on Sarawak (Alteration of Boundaries) by the Queen Council in 1954 and the lifting of the Proclamation of Emergency 1969, that the Sarawak government is constitutionally entitled to exercise its original rights over the onshore and offshore mining of oil and gas according to our Oil Mining Ordinance 1958.

However, 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our legal system, any law passed in Malaysia and duly gazetted to come into force is deemed to be good law until it is repealed, or the Federal Court declares it to be unconstitutional and null and void.

Thus, the constitutionality or unconstitutionality of an enactment is determined by the Federal Court, not just by mere public declarations.

Thus TSA 2012 and PDA 1974 currently are still valid law and as affirmed by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg that all we have is full regulatory power, not full ownership.

If based on their logic that we already have full ownership since the lifting of the Emergency in 2011, why are still given a mere 5 % oil royalty?

It is a simple question, with a simple answer. The fact is that the constitutionality of such laws wasn’t challenged in court or repealed or amended by an act of Parliament, which is what Chong Chieng Jen intends to do. It is a proactive step, rather than just playing to the gallery to deceive not just themselves but also the people of Sarawak.

Another example, we just cannot declare GST tax or even the recent Tourism Tax as unconstitutional in Sarawak thus refuse to pay it. Even with the big public altercation between Datuk Abdul Karim Hamzah and Datuk Nazri Aziz, the State and Federal Tourism Minister respectively, we were still subjected to the tax eventually.

Thus, we in Pakatan Harapan have the interest of Sarawakians at heart and will not play into the ‘sandiwara’ created by BN to paint a misleading perception that we have full ownership of our oil and gas in the State without proactive steps to challenge in a court of law, or table a motion to amend it in Parliament.

The amendments that will be tabled will exclude Sarawak from the PDA and TSA and just reaffirming our ownership of our resources, rather than just basing it on ambiguous public statements with little accountability. Thus, an objection to this motion, is an objection to the returning of our rights to Sarawak.

The bandwagon of BN Sarawak leaders that are jumping on to praise this statement is either ignorant of our laws or making a deliberate choice to mislead the people.

May I remind them, that the ultimate act of betrayal to the interest of the people, was BN Sarawak’s act of giving away our rights in the first place, and now still continue to deliberately deceive the people of Sarawak even after 55 years of mismanagement, bad governance and blatant corruption. - March 13, 2018