KUCHING: Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) has claimed that “it is not a difficult thing to do” for the federal government to repeal the Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA74) so that all oil and gas resources can be returned to Sarawak.
Its president Voon Lee Shan in a statement today said though the matter was not included in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63); it would be essential for the state government as part of the unity government to seek the return of all these resources to Sarawak.
At the same time, he said, the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) needs to insist the federal government to disclose the loss of Sarawak’s wealth of oil and gas or amounts of revenues collected from oil and gas from Sarawak after the passing of the PDA74.
“It was speculated that Sarawak lost about RM110 billion of its oil resources each year as pumped by Petronas with most revenues taken to fill the federal coffers but what Sarawak got was always below RM5 billion as annual development fund,” he said.
Voon suggested that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof to call for a public hearing of all issues in the MA63 including the determination of the invalidity of the agreement.