By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Jan 14: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) vice president Datuk Liwan Lagang holds that it is absurd for Petronas to take Sarawak to court when the company has been mining from oil and gas from Sarawak.
Liwan who is also Assistant Minister of Water Supply had turned up at Kuching High Court today to grant support for Sarawak government in its case against Petronas.
“On the ground, our supporters are very, very confident that Sarawak’s spirit should be first. We cannot just give in. This is our land, this is our property and Petronas came in bring us to court.
“I think this is absurd, and cannot be accepted,” said Liwan outside the Kuching Court Complex today.
Representing PRS youth, its chief Datuk Snowdan Lawan said as youth of PRS, they just wanted to protect Sarawak’s rights.
“What is ours is ours. Nothing more, nothing less,” he said.
Terming Petronas as “outsiders”, he said the company only aimed to come to Sarawak to maximise its profits.
“We feel that whatever they get for so many years from us, they should be giving it back to us,” stressed Snowdan, on the grounds that Sarawak was one of the three partners in the formation of Federation of Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Hulu Rajang MP Datuk Wilson Ugak Kumbong said that while he was in parliament, he had been hoping that whatever was promised by the federal government would be given to Sarawak.
“It was not Sarawak’s promise, but the federal government which promised – 20 per cent oil and gas; 50 per cent of tax collected (in Sarawak) to be returned to Sarawak.
“It was YB Chong Chieng Jen (Stampin MP) who promised. And today, he is already in power and this is the power he uses to criticise Sarawak,” said Ugak.
He hoped the court of law would honour Malaysia Agreement 1963 so that Sarawak’s rights would not be sidelined.
There are three applications in session in Kuching Court Complex today in relation to the case of the Sarawak government suing Petronas over unpaid 5 per cent State Sales Tax.
The three applications included Petronas’ application for the recusal of presiding judge, Petronas’ application for the case to be referred to the Federal Court and also Sarawak government’s application for disposal of the case based on points of law (summary hearing). —DayakDaily
