By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Feb 20: Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong has condemned the Sarawak GPS government for what she calls a “glaring reversal” and a “blatant betrayal” of Sarawak’s oil and gas rights following its recognition of the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974.
The Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak leader expressed deep disappointment over the Sarawak government’s sudden shift in position, pointing out that after years of questioning the PDA’s validity, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) is now acknowledging the very law that has long deprived Sarawak of control over its own oil and gas resources.
“This is nothing short of selling off Sarawak’s oil and gas rights for the second time and cheating the people of Sarawak yet again,” she said in a statement today.
Yong further accused the Premier of Sarawak’s Office of issuing a “weak and contradictory” statement that effectively abandons past claims to Sarawak’s resource sovereignty.
She argued that previous promises by GPS to safeguard Sarawak’s oil and gas rights were “nothing more than empty rhetoric to hoodwink voters”.
“Sarawakians have the right to know the Sarawak government’s justification for this complete U-turn,” she stressed.
Yong credited DAP Sarawak chairman and Stampin MP Chong Chieng Jen for raising the issue in Parliament, claiming that without his efforts, Sarawakians would have remained unaware of the GPS government’s latest move.
She alleged that the decision to recognise the PDA 1974 represents yet another underhanded tactic by GPS to compromise Sarawak’s resource ownership. — DayakDaily
