Batu Kitang State assemblyman Dato\u2019 Ir. Lo Khere Chiang has rejected Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah\u2019s remarks portraying the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974 as a cornerstone of unity, calling it a \u201crevisionist tale to protect federal interests at Sarawak\u2019s expense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTengku Razaleigh\u2019s attempt to glorify the PDA is nothing more than a revisionist story that shifts blame onto Sarawak\u2019s departed leaders, who can no longer defend themselves,\u201d Lo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He stressed that Sarawak never consented to the PDA. \u201cOur State Assembly never debated or ratified the Act, and its validity here has been disputed ever since. Even the late Adenan Satem reminded us that the PDA was never binding on Sarawak,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lo pointed to Sarawak\u2019s successful imposition of the Sales Tax on petroleum in 2019, the Distribution of Gas Ordinance, and federal exemptions reaffirming the state\u2019s authority as proof that the PDA was never absolute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf the PDA had truly settled everything in 1974, why were these exemptions and court rulings necessary?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that real unity lies in respecting the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), not emergency-era laws. \u201cWhat unites Malaysia are agreements solemnly entered into by equal partners. Sarawak has contributed faithfully, but we will not accept distorted narratives or myths that belittle our constitutional rights,\u201d Lo said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Batu Kitang State assemblyman Dato\u2019 Ir. Lo Khere Chiang has rejected Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah\u2019s remarks portraying the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974 as a cornerstone of unity, calling it a \u201crevisionist tale to protect federal interests at Sarawak\u2019s expense.\u201d \u201cTengku Razaleigh\u2019s attempt to glorify the PDA is nothing more than a revisionist story that shifts blame onto Sarawak\u2019s departed leaders, who can no longer defend themselves,\u201d Lo said. He stressed that Sarawak never consented to the PDA. \u201cOur State Assembly never debated or ratified the Act, and its validity hereRead More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33751,"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\/33750"}],"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=33750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33752,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33750\/revisions\/33752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suppnewsportal.com\/main\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}