Aspirasi president urges Wan Junaidi to put proviso exempting Sarawak, Sabah from TSA
KUCHING: Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) president Lina Soo calls on de facto Law Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar to put forward a proviso to the Territorial Sea Act (TSA) 2012 to be legislated in Parliament to read: This Act shall not apply to the coastal States of Sarawak and Sabah.
This will immediately restore the boundaries of Sarawak and Sabah to the pre-Malaysia territorial boundaries and in conformity with United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), said Soo.
She added that the same protocol needs to be applied to the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) to restore Sarawak’s ownership and all economic rights over the state’s oil and gas.
“Now is the golden opportunity for Junaidi to prove his mettle and moral courage to redress the injustices and exploitation suffered by Sarawak and Sabah over the decades.
“Sarawak and Sabah have special protections as enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and Federal Constitution, and the application of the TSA to the Borneo States is unconstitutional and therefore, unlawful,” she said in a statement yesterday.
She added that the TSA had usurped the sovereignty of the Borneo States by reducing our territorial waters from 12 nautical miles to three nautical miles which was done without the express consent of Sarawak and Sabah through their State Legislatures.
At the same time, she welcomes Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor’s statement that he concurred with a motion to reject the Territorial Sea Act (TSA).
Soo hopes Hajiji will walk the talk tabling the motion and call for it to be passed unanimously in the next Sabah legislative sitting as she believes all Sabahans want to have their heritage restored rightfully.
“TSA violates Article 1(3) of the Federal Constitution which states that the territories of each State are the territories comprised immediately before Malaysia Day, and there shall be no alteration to the boundary unless expressed by a law made by the respective State Legislature,” she explained.