BN leaders lodge police report questioning legality of PDA

BAU: Tasik Biru Barisan Nasional ( BN) leaders have come forward to jointly make a police report asking the police to investigate the legality of the Petroleum Development Act ( PDA) 1974.

Leading the group to lodge the report was Sumi Lidei from Progressive Democratic Party ( PDP) while other BN component parties were represented by Chin Poo Nam of Sarawak United People’s Party ( SUPP), John Nyigor of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu ( PBB) and Datuk Wilfred Rata Nisson of Parti Rakyat Sarawak ( PRS).

They were accompanied by Tasik Biru assemblyman Dato Henry Harry Jinep and several other members of the four state BN component parties.

The report was made at Bau police station at 11.38am.

Henry, when met after the police report was lodged, said the report was made to declare that the PDA 1974 is illegal, null and void because the Act had not been passed in the State Legislative Assembly ( DUN).

“Because the Act was never passed in the Sarawak DUN and it was not in accordance with the provision of the Malaysia Agreement 1963, the Act has no legal force in Sarawak,” he said.

Since 1974, when the PDA came into effect, Petronas has been managing the oil and gas resources in Malaysia including in Sarawak.

It has a monopoly and is the sole authority to go to if any investor wants to get a piece of the action.

Whether by sheer coincidence or design, in the first week of June, Petronas filed a suit seeking a declaration that it is the sole governing authority for upstream O& G activities in Malaysia for onshore and offshore fields.

Petronas also wants the Court to declare that the PDA supersedes the Sarawak Oil Mining Ordinance (OMO), the law that the state has used as its basis for setting up Petros as the sole authority for O& G activities in Sarawak.

Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg on March 3 had told reporters that the PDA 1974 ( PDA) and the Territorial Seas Act 2012 ( TSA) are not relevant in Sarawak.

He said both were federal laws and for any federal law to be implemented in Sarawak, the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly has to endorse it.

However, he noted that the Sarawak DUN had not endorsed both laws – the PDA and TSA – and therefore they could not be implemented or supersede the state laws.

“Now, quote me properly; any law that is ultra vires the constitution under article 4 of the Federal Constitution is void,” he was quoted as saying.