BINTULU: Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg has thanked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for agreeing to hand over the Bintulu Port to Sarawak when tabling the Budget 2024 on Friday.
He said the country’s premier liquefied natural gas (LNG) port, belongs to Sarawak and was one of the agendas pursued under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
“It (Bintulu Port) is our right. There was an understanding that we needed help from the federal government when constructing the port decades ago; due to lack of funding.
“However, we never change or amend any ordinance (to relinquish Sarawak’s rights over the port). So, we thanked the Prime Minister for agreeing to return it to us when tabling the Budget 2024,” he said.
Abang Johari, who is also the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) president and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) chairman was speaking at the PBB 2023 Northern Zone Special Convention at Bintulu Civic Centre here today.
Sarawak, he said, wanted to take over Bintulu Port from the federal government as part of the state’s overall port development strategies.
He said a central port authority would be set up to regulate, streamline and coordinate the management, operation, planning, and development of all ports; including ports in Kuching, Rajang, Miri, Tanjung Manis and Samalaju as well as Bintulu Port.
“So, it is not that we plan to take over Bintulu Port but we must take over it. So, we thanked the federal government for respecting our rights.
“When Putrajaya respects us and our rights, we respect them as well. After all, we are just demanding what belongs to us and safeguarding our rights based on the MA63, for the interest of Sarawak and its people” he said.
It has been previously reported that the federal government took over the development of the Bintulu Port in 1981 with the establishment of the Bintulu Port Authority under the Bintulu Port Act 1981 and it came under the federal Ministry of Transport.
However, pursuant to the recommendations of the Inter-Governmental Committee 1962, the Ninth Schedule of the Federal Constitution was amended to incorporate Item 15 of List IIA whereby the legislative authority over ports and harbours, except those declared by federal law as federal port, is vested in the states of Sarawak and Sabah with effect from Malaysia Day.
