Since when did Kit Siang ever oppose when Sarawak's rights were eroded in the past?

Commentary by HT Wong

I hate to say this: Since when did DAP leaders like Lim Kit Siang and his son, Guan Eng, ever fight for Sarawak's interests? Never. Prove me wrong if anyone thinks they have.

Lim Kit Siang has been a parliamentarian since 1969. Did he ever object when Sarawak's rights were eroded?

Did Kit Siang ever oppose the Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA) when it was tabled for debate in Parliament? None.

When votes were taken, did he cast his vote to oppose PDA? Show me the Parliament Hansard that he did, then.

And yet, those DAP Sarawak young leaders, many of whom have not been born yet, blamed SUPP and other BN parties for not opposing PDA in Parliament. Either they did not read the Hansard when PDA was tabled for debate or they deliberately did not tell the truth.

Those DAP leaders like Kit Siang and former MPs from the party were as guilty as those of the BN parties in supporting PDA.

For the record, Kit Siang has been a parliamentarian from 1969 to 1999 and from 2004 until the dissolution of Parliament last month.

DAP Sarawak leaders like Chong Chieng Jen must tell the public the truth whether or not Kit Siang and former DAP leaders oppose PDA.

PDA is very damaging to Sarawak and it was cleverly drafted and crafted before it was tabled in Parliament in 1974.

It takes away our rights over oil and gas resources, right under our nose. Now, taking it back is very difficult, but I am sure that it is not impossible.

Let have a look at the damaging provisions of PDA 1974.

Ownership

2. (1) The entire ownership in, and the exclusive rights, powers, liberties and privileges of exploring, exploiting, winning and obtaining petroleum whether onshore or offshore of Malaysia shall be

vested in a Corporation to be incorporated under the Companies Act 1965 or under the law relating to incorporation of companies.

(2) The vesting of the ownership, rights, powers, liberties and privileges referred to in subsection (1) shall take effect on the execution of an instrument in the form contained in the Schedule to

this Act

(3) The ownership and the exclusive rights, powers, liberties and privileges so vested shall be irrevocable and shall enure for the benefit of the Corporation and its successor.

Cash payment by the Corporation

4. In return for the ownership and the rights, powers, liberties and privileges vested in it by virtue of this Act, the Corporation shall make to the Government of the Federation and the Government of

any relevant State such cash payment as may be agreed between the parties concerned.

So you see, how the federal government used this PDA to take away our rights over oil and gas resources?

To further re-enforce the federal government control over our oil and gas resources, the Territorial Sea Act 2012 was tabled and adopted in Parliament.

Now, DAP chairman and candidate for Stampin Chong Chieng Jen is blaming the Sarawak BN for not opposing the TSA. He even tried to move a private member's motion in the last session of parliament. which rightly did not go through.

Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah last year asked Chong if he had spoken against the tabling of TSA in Parliament. None at all. Uggah proved his point by saying that the Hansard did not record of Chong speaking against TSA.

Now, he and his PH men are asking for the repeal of TSA, which I think they are playing to the gallery and simply jumping into the bandwagon of civil societies.

We must thank those guys like Lina Soo, Dominique Ng Kim Ho, See Chee How, Peter John Jaban, Bill Jugah, Yong Sen Chan, Karen Shepherd, Patrick Anek Uren, Hugh Lawrence Zehnder and Tambi Pilang in calling for the repeal of not just TSA, but also PDA and Continental Shelf Act.

These three Acts, they charged, infringed the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and the Federal Constitution because they took away Sarawak's rights. They wanted the Acts to be repelled.

Lina, in particular, charged that Sarawak's status as one of three equal partners in the federation of Malaysia was downgraded into one of the 13 seats  when Article 2(1) of the Federal Constitution was amended in 1976.

Again, Kit Siang and other DAP MPs at that time did not oppose the downgrading of Sarawak's status as shown by the Hansard.

The late Tan Sri Adenan Satem, then the chief minister, took the cue from these guys and decided to re-visit MA63. He went further by promising to take back those rights have been eroded and taken away from Sarawak, either advertently or inadvertently.

Adenan succeeded in taking back 13 administrative powers from the federal government, and he could have achieved more had he not passed away.

Adenan concurred with the civil societies that Sarawak did not join Malaysia but one of the four equal partners forming the federation. He elaborated that there would be no Malaysia without Sarawak and Sabah's participation in the formation of the federation.

DAP Sarawak, as I said, jumped into the bandwagon by coming up with the Bintulu Declaration,  most of its contents were already being repeated many times over by the Sarawak Association for People's Aspirations (SAPA) whose president was Lina Soo.

Current Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari is continuing to pursue Adenan's unfinished business of getting back Sarawak's rights.

In his pursuit, Abang Jo declared that TSA is not applicable to Sarawak because it altered Sarawak's boundary and also the Sarawak State Assembly did not want to sanction TSA.

Therefore, oil and gas resources within Sarawak's international boundary belong to Sarawak. not anyone else.

In the coming July, he said, Sarawak will assume full regulatory control over oil and gas industry when Oil Mining Ordinance 1958 (OMO) is amended.

Petronas, the national petroleum company, must apply for mining licence to operate in Sarawak's territory. And also, Petronas must subject itself to Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros) before it undertake oil and gas exploration.

I am sure that the amendments to OMO will be very comprehensive, covering all the aspects of the oil and gas industry.

That being the case, PH manifesto calling for an increase from 5 per cent to 20 per cent in oil royalty will, thus, become obsolete and outdated.

Asking for an increase in oil and gas royalty will not arise when Sarawak takes back oil and gas resources from the federal government.