Kota Sentosa State Assemblyman, Wilfred Yap criticised recent parliamentary replies by Minister in the Prime Minister\u2019s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, saying they misrepresent Sarawak\u2019s legal rights over oil and gas resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Minister\u2019s replies reflect a serious lack of legal appreciation of Sarawak\u2019s constitutional and statutory rights,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yap explained that Sarawak\u2019s authority is derived from the Oil Mining Ordinance (OMO) 1958, which predates the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974 by more than 15 years and remains in force. \u201cTo overlook this is to misstate the law and mislead the public,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He stressed that the PDA, enacted without Sarawak\u2019s consent, cannot override the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), which safeguards the state\u2019s control over its natural resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yap also reminded that the Joint Declaration signed on May 21, 2025, between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Premier of Sarawak Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, had reaffirmed Sarawak\u2019s legal position. The agreement recognises Sarawak\u2019s authority under the OMO and Distribution of Gas Ordinance 2016, appoints PETROS as sole gas aggregator, and confirms that Petronas must operate within Sarawak\u2019s framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSarawak\u2019s rights are secured by law, not federal concessions. The Federal Government must honour both MA63 and the Joint Declaration. Sarawakians will not accept any attempt to downplay our legally recognised rights,\u201d Yap said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kota Sentosa State Assemblyman, Wilfred Yap criticised recent parliamentary replies by Minister in the Prime Minister\u2019s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, saying they misrepresent Sarawak\u2019s legal rights over oil and gas resources. \u201cThe Minister\u2019s replies reflect a serious lack of legal appreciation of Sarawak\u2019s constitutional and statutory rights,\u201d he said. Yap explained that Sarawak\u2019s authority is derived from the Oil Mining Ordinance (OMO) 1958, which predates the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974 by more than 15 years and remains in force. \u201cTo overlook this isRead More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,1,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33561"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33561"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33562,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33561\/revisions\/33562"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}