Hearing of Petronas suit on PDA postponed to June 21
KUCHING: The Federal Court hearing over ownership right to Sarawak’s oil and gas is now postponed from today (June 12) to June 21, a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office ( CMO) said yesterday.
The CMO said the State Attorney Genera l ( SAG) legal team representing the Sarawak government was notified by an official of the Federal Court by phone late yesterday that the hearing of Petronas’ application for leave to commence proceedings against the Sarawak government under Article 128(1)(a) of the Federal Constitution was postponed to June 21.
“The Federal Court has acceded to the request by the Federal Attorney- General ( FAG) for a postponement of the hearing to enable him to consider whether the federal government ought to intervene in this case.
“It is surprising that Petronas, who made the application and sought an urgent hearing thereof, has no objection to the postponement of hearing of the case,” the CMO said late yesterday.
The CMO statement further said that the Sarawak government wished to express its deep disappointment over the sudden postponement of the hearing of this case; particularly when Petronas, FAG Chambers and the Federal Court registrar had been informed by the SAG legal team that the Sarawak government objected to the application for adjournment.
The postponement was granted without hearing the Sarawak government’s objection, according to the SAG legal team, who were already in the federal capital.
Besides, all affidavits and submissions for the hearing had been delivered to the Court in readiness for the hearing today (June 12), said the legal team.
The Sarawak government will now have to consider all other options to protect and enforce the state’s constitutional rights in this matter and would not allow Petronas to disrespect and disregard the state’s rights to regulate the upstream activities under the state’s laws such as the Oil Mining Ordinance and the Land Code, the statement added.
Meanwhile, Assistant Minister of Law, State-Federal Relations and Project Monitoring Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali said: “Although we are disappointed, we respect the court decision. We will protect, uphold and safeguard the state’s constitutional rights which must be be respected by all”.