DAP hits back at SUPP’s Tiang on PDA

Special assistant to DAP's Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen, Kelvin Yii, issued an immediate statement hitting back at SUPP’s Michael Tiang who had said that Chong’s intended motion to call for an amendment to the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) in Parliament next week would turn out to be nothing more than a paradox.

Tiang earlier told Malaysiakini, that Sarawak already ownedall the petroleum resources, both onshore and offshore as stipulated under Sarawak (Alteration of Boundaries). 

“We agree that the Sarawak government is constitutionally entitled to exercise its original rights over the onshore and offshore mining of oil and gas according to our Oil Mining Ordinance 1958," Yii (photo) said.

However, he said under the legal system, any law passed in Malaysia and duly gazetted to come into force is deemed to be “good law” until it is repealed, or the Federal Court declares it to be unconstitutional. 

“The constitutionality or unconstitutionality of an enactment is determined by the Federal Court of law, not just by mere public declarations.

"Thus, the Territorial Sea Act (TSA) 2012 and PDA 1974 currently are still valid laws and as affirmed by our chief minister that all we have is full regulatory power, not full ownership,” he added.

“If based on their logic that we already have full ownership since the lifting of the Emergency in 2011, why are we still given a mere five percent oil royalty?"

Yii said the constitutionality of such laws wasn’t challenged in court or repealed or amended by an act of Parliament, which is what Chong intends to do.

“Another example, we just cannot declare GST or even the recent tourism tax as unconstitutional in Sarawak thus refuse to pay it,” he added.

Yii pointed out that even with the big public altercation between Abdul Karim Hamzah and Nazri Abdul Aziz, the state and federal tourism ministers respectively, they are still subjected to the tax eventually.

“The amendments that will be tabled will exclude Sarawak from the PDA and TSA and just reaffirming our ownership of our resources, rather than just basing it on ambiguous public statements with little accountability.

“Thus, an objection to this motion, is an objection to the returning of our rights to Sarawak,” he cautioned.

Yii also said the band of BN Sarawak leaders who are jumping on to praise SUPP’s point of view are either ignorant of the laws or making a deliberate choice to mislead the people.

“May I remind them, that the ultimate act of betrayal to the interest of the people, was BN Sarawak’s act of giving away our rights in the first place, and now still continue to deliberately deceive the people of Sarawak even after 55 years of mismanagement, bad governance and blatant corruption." -Mkini