The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, 34TH US PRESIDENT
The taking of something belonging to someone else is not looked upon kindly by the law or morally. Such action also lacks integrity. The ‘something’ is the oil and gas fields in Sarawak and the ‘someone’ and victims are the people of Sarawak. The objects that were taken are oil and gas.
This has been done in broad daylight and continues every day, 24 hours a day. The amount lost to Sarawak is estimated at RM250 million a day. The 1MDB scandal is minuscule compared to this on-going scandal.
The tool used to commit this was the Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA) and the Territorial Sea Act 2012. The organisation empowered to wrongfully take these resources is Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) and the 100 per cent owner of Petronas is the government of Malaysia.
As the Petronas website (https://www.petronas.com/about-us) states ‘IT ALL BEGAN IN 1974’, well on my part, I mean the taking of the oil and gas.
It is important to note that Petronas is under the direct control of the Prime Minister. If Petronas does not want to pay us the 5 per cent sales tax for the oil extracted from Sarawak, it means the Prime Minister has said ‘No’.
It is also interesting to note that Petronas is not required under law to publish its accounts. This lack of transparency goes against the concept of good governance and transparency.
It has also been highlighted many times that the PDA encroaches on the rights of Sarawak. We have our own Oil Mining Ordinance 1958 (OMO) with amendments in 2018. OMO precedes the formation of Malaysia and gives exclusive rights to Sarawak to extract and manage its own oil and gas resources.
Similarly, the Territorial Sea Act 2012 (TSA) passed by parliament effectively (and illegally) alienates Sarawak’s rightful territory away to the federal government. This is in direct contradiction to the Federal Constitution under Article 2 (b) that states the alteration of boundaries of any state cannot be done without the consent of the affected state (in our case the Sarawak Legislative Assembly) and also the Council of Rulers.
In these cases of the PDA and TSA, it is evident that the Malayan dominated parliament has shown total disregard for the constitution (where it concerns Sarawak and Sabah) and also contempt for the role of the Council of Rulers in the case of the TSA.
Therefore, many Sarawakians have validly and logically argued that both pieces of legislation are actually unconstitutional and consequently should be treated as null and void in the context where Sarawak is concerned.
This brings me back to the issue of the wrongful removal of our oil and gas. The clearly unauthorised removal of our oil and gas resources by Petronas must be stopped. Sarawak, I am sure most would agree has been patient enough, (some would even say stupid enough) all these years to allow this exploitation to carry on.
Petronas is a prime example of a tool designed by Malaya as a colonial tool to exploit a territory (Sarawak) for the sole benefit of Malaya. The Malayan governments past and present have on many occasions harped on about the past exploitative nature of the British colonial rule and how they were exploited. This is typical of their hypocritical nature, considering they are doing the same to Sarawak and Sabah.
It is also clear that the past and present federal governments are not practising the ‘Rule of Law’. This is not just a minor breach of the constitution but a major breach. How can the people in a nation be expected to follow and obey the constitution when the government itself shows disregard for the constitution and ‘Rule of Law’?
My point in revisiting some of the matters above is due to the recent utterly nonsensical statement made by federal leaders. To compound the problems faced by Sabah and Sarawak over the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and the demand for 20 per cent oil royalties and in Sarawak’s case 5 per cent sales tax as well, Dr Mahathir said that Malaysia is considering selling stakes in Petronas to the states where the company has oil and gas fields.
Is Sarawak going to pay for a stake in a company that is extracting oil from its territory? How can our leader even think of such a scheme where he is effectively asking a victim if they want to buy back goods which are theirs in the first place?
The types of phone scams which are being perpetrated on an unsuspecting public seem to be catching on. I can just visualise bazaars being set up all over Malaysia where one can legally sell stolen goods back to their victims.
We are fortunate that our Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari quickly responded by saying “What is the point for us to buy the stakes?” He pointed out that it will be pointless for Sarawak to buy stakes even if Petronas given that a two or three per cent stake will not have a say in how Petronas should be managed.
We Sarawakians must redouble our efforts to ensure our oil and gas resources are returned to us. Day by day, the Malayans instead of understanding our aspirations, desires and needs are in fact pushing us further away with illogical statements and still depriving us of much-needed development funds.
And what other statements are Malayans going to make to drive Sarawakians further away from the federation… they are already scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
