by DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, March 27: Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan stressed that Sarawak should not rely on the Oil and Mining Ordinance 1958 (OMO58) to claim any right of ownership to oil and gas resources if the Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA74) still stands.
In a press statement responding to a commentary published yesterday, he pointed out that regardless of whether PDA74 was enacted during the emergency period, or that the Emergency Ordinances and Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA 1960) have since been repealed, the fact remains that the PDA74 continues to govern and centralise control over Sarawak’s oil and gas resources under Federal authority.
“We also know the intention or purpose of PDA74 and we also know that PDA74 could likely be unconstitutional, but it is still a good law until repealed by Parliament or declared by a competent court that it’s unconstitutional.
“It matters not whether PDA74 was passed by Parliament during emergency and emergency has been lifted, but, the PDA74 law is still there.
“Therefore, the Sarawak GPS government could not rely on OMO58 to claim any right of ownership to oil and gas resources because of the clear provision of Article 75 federal constitution states that – ‘if any State law is inconsistent with a federal law, the federal law shall prevail and the State law shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void’.
“Therefore, Article 75 federal constitution is clear that when there is a conflict between state law with an Act of Parliament, the Act of Parliament takes overrides state law,” he said.
He explained that the OMO58 is a state law passed by Sarawak Legislature before Malaysia formed while the Petroleum Development Act 1974 was passed by the Malaysian parliament after Malaysia was formed on September 16, 1963.
“It is now the obligation of the GPS government to seek Federal parliament or the prime minister to repeal PDA74 and other relevant Acts of Parliament so that Sarawak and Sabah could take back their oil and gas resources and should no more play politics about this Sarawak rights by leaving PDA74 to become an enforceable law to vest Sarawak’s oil and gas in the hands of Petronas,” he said. – DayakDaily
