Sabah to take own approach in protecting state interests

KOTA KINABALU: The Warisanled Sabah government is taking action to protect state interests, including oil and gas rights, says Parti Warisan Sabah permanent chairman Datuk Liew Vui Keong.

Unlike Sarawak, he said Sabah will have a different approach on how to tackle the issue.

“With regards to the Petronas suit, our state’s position must be different from Sarawak as we need to emphasise on our special rights, apart from Sarawak.

“I have no doubt the state Attorney General will look into the Petronas suit closely and will advise our government on the proper course of action to be taken,” he said.

Liew said the recent statement by former Special Tasks Minister Datuk Teo Chee Kang asking the state government to intervene in the Petronas suit was just superfluous.

The Sarawak government had said it would do all it could to defend the state’s rights with regard to its oil and gas resources.

This follows a court application filed by Petronas that the company is the exclusive owner of petroleum resources in the country.

Liew said for Sabah, it needed to look into the exchange of two oilrich exploitation blocks ‘L’ and ‘M’ with Brunei, which Sarawak does not have, he said.

“Then there is this overlapping oil fields with Indonesia in our waters which are being operated now by Petronas, but the sharing is yet to be concluded,” he added.

“We also must look into the environment in case of oil spills, which Sarawak has its own law to deal with it, unlike Sabah,” Liew said.

Apart from oil and gas issues, the state government is also looking at other aspects, including maritime resources and the 40% that has to be returned to Sabah by the Federal Government from the state revenue.

They are the Fisheries Act, the Continental Shelf Act, the Shipping Ordinance 1954 of Malaya and Ordinance of Sabah and Sarawak 1960, Environment Ordinance, Tourism and the Territorial Seas Act, among others.

He said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal has taken several reported measures to protect the interests of the people.