STAR urges Sarawak government to move motion to reject PDA, TSA at next DUN sitting
KUCHING: State Reform Party Sarawak ( STAR) is calling upon the Sarawak government to move a motion to reject the Petroleum Development Act ( PDA) 1976 and the Territorial Sea Act ( TSA) 2012 at the next State Legislative Assembly ( DUN) session.
STAR president Lina Soo said given both laws only applied to the states of Malaya and not to Sarawak, the Sarawak government could not keep silent because ‘ if one day it goes to court, the court can say Sarawak has given up their rights after ( having) never said anything over 50 or 60 years’.
She said it is necessary for the DUN Sarawak to pass a resolution to reject the PDA and TSA, and make it a constitutional record in the Handsard.
“When a robber comes to your house, you need to close your door and your windows. Don’t let the robber in. In this case, how can we do that? Our DUN must reject these two laws immediately.
“In the future, if there is any dispute, we already have our constitutional record. If we don’t do that, if we have been silent, then the court can say that you have consented; (that) you have given up your rights.”
Soo claimed that she had been talking about this issue for quite some time, but the Sarawak government did not take any step towards addressing the matter.
She noted that the proposal to move and pass a motion to reject the PDA and TSA would be among the main agenda up for discussions in STAR’s annual general meeting (AGM) scheduled to be held this March 31.
“We hope to pass a resolution on this in our AGM and after that, we will officially write to the Sarawak government to tell them of the urgency to move and pass a resolution to reject both laws in the next DUN session,” she said.
Soo viewed the PDA and TSA as federal legislations that are constitutional only to the states of Malaya, but could not be applied to Sarawak because Sarawak DUN had never endorsed them.
She noted that Article 95(d) of the Federal Constitution clearly states that Parliament cannot make any Act or Law relating to land in Sarawak or take over land in Sarawak, because land in Sarawak is a Sarawak issue.
Because of that, she insisted that the PDA and TSA could not apply to Sarawak.
Thus, she called upon the federal government to put the situation right immediately, and if they would not do it in Parliament, they could add another clause to these two laws – that is these Acts do not apply to Sarawak.
Soo believes that Petronas is operating illegally in Sarawak because the PDA is not constitutional to Sarawak.
For now, she added, the only constitutional means for Sarawak to get back the billions of ringgit from the federal government or from Petronas is to impose sales tax on petroleum products, which the Sarawak government is already doing.
Soo, however, regarded the five per cent tax as being ‘ too low’, given that Sarawak is still far behind Peninsular Malaysia in terms of development.
“Because Sarawak is the landowner, we should be getting more taxes.
“Now, since imposing sales tax is our constitutional right, we should increase the sales tax to 20 per cent or 30 per cent – or even up to 50 per cent,” she stressed.