Petronas’ court action ‘disputable’
KOTA KINABALU: Gabungan Sabah has urged the new state government to take the appropriate and immediate action, in light of Petronas’court action against Sarawak.
STAR Sabah president Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan opined that it is unconstitutional for Petronas to use Petroleum Development Act ( PDA) 1974 in its court action, describing the court action as “disputable.”.
“You cannot use PDA alone to seek the declaration. You have to go back to the Constitution, the Malaysian Agreement, IGC and even as far back as the 20-Points agreement.
“I am surprised that the Sabah government has made no noise in this issue. I think we have to see what the state government is going to do because the Sarawak government is already preparing.
“If Petronas insists on this ( court action), this will be the end of Malaysia,” Jeffrey added.
“We plan to intervene in this case. We, the people of Sabah, are considered to be stakeholders in this issue. We have the stakes and we have the right to intervene in this case in this proposal to bring Petronas to seek declaration from the court,” he told reporters when met at the commemoration ceremony of the 42nd anniversary of the Double Six Tragedy on Wednesday
Meanwhile, Sabah Progressive Party ( SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee revealed that a team of Sabah lawyers had already started preparing to address the said issue.
“Since yesterday after Petronas had served the legal action on Sarawak government. A team of Sabah lawyers has started work to get Sabahans who are stakeholders to intervene in the case of Petronas against the Sarawak government.
“We know that the Sarawak government is meeting private lawyersto assist the Sarawak government because if Petronas wins this case, it would mean that all of our petroleum will belong to Petronas and not the people of Sabah and Sarawak,” Yong said, adding Sarawak had also engaged its government lawyers.
In this regard, Yong urged the Sabah government to immediately get into action.
“In the event Sarawak loses the case in the Federal Court, the same ruling would likely apply to Sabah as well,” Yong said.