Sarawak’s “fight for oil sovereignty”

suppadmin | June 6, 2018

In response to the official filing of application by Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) to the Federal Court yesterday, seeking declaration that under the Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA) Petronas is the exclusive owner of the nation’s petroleum resources including the oil in Sarawak, Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Youth Central Secretary-General Milton Foo stressed that beside being a legal battle that determines whether the company can continue to exploit oil in the territory of Sarawak, it’s also a “fight for oil sovereignty” between Petronas and all Sarawakians.

Milton, on the other hand regrets that just less than a month Pakatan Harapan comes to power, Petronas, as a Government Linked Company (GLC), choose to take such tough and intense measures to further plunder the oil resource that originally belonged to the people of Sarawak. Showing no respect to Sarawak government that has make clear proclamation on its ownership and control right over oil in Sarawak, the decision of the wholly state-owned company to bring this issue to Federal Court has gone totally against the promise of Pakatan Harapan to the Sarawakians in the so called “Buku Harapan” before GE14 which promised to give back all rights originally belonged to Sarawak as stated in Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), including oil, to the government of Sarawak.

Wearing angel’s robe when demanding, unveil wicked face only when demand fulfilled. Do they think that Sarawakians are well deceived? Only those fake Sarawakians will betray own motherland and choose to stand in line with Malaya’s Petronas to speak up and explain for their sake.

“Take our land together with our lives, but not our concession nor humiliation. In this fighting over our oil sovereignty, we Sarawakians, with our perseverance and resoluteness in nature, will never pull back even one single step! When necessary, the Sarawak government, which was one of the components in the formation of Malaysia, shall have the option of judicial proceeding by bringing the legal issues concerning the sovereignty of the MA63 and Oil Sovereignty of Sarawak, which are subordinated to the international compact, to International Court of Justice for judicial identification and corroboration.”

Milton went on to point out that following the return of the era of Mahathirism, the Malaysian judiciary system will now face a severe test again.

“I still remember the “Malaysian constitutional crisis” in 1988. The shocked dismissal of several Federal Court judges was closely related to the political dispute within UMNO and the survival of the Mahathir government at that time.”

In 2006, the former Lord President of the Supreme Court (now known as the chief justice of the Federal Court) Tun Salleh Abbas has disclosed five evidence that the Mahathir government at that time had exhausted tough measures to force him to resign. The 1988 constitutional crisis shall be remarked as the darkest day in Malaysian history. The Mahathir government successively sacked two Supreme Court judges together with the Lord President. The Judicial profession, opposition parties and civil rights organizations from nationwide assess this constitutional crisis as the beginning of the erosion of judicial independence by the executive authorities.