KUCHING, Sept 24: Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) president Lina Soo calls on de facto Law Minister Dato Sri 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.
In pointing this out, Soo said this will immediately restore the boundaries of Sarawak and Sabah to the pre-Malaysia territorial boundaries and in conformity with the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
“The same protocol needs to be applied to the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) to restore our (Sarawak’s) ownership and all economic rights over our oil and gas.
“Now is the golden opportunity for Wan Junaidi to prove his mettle and moral courage to redress the injustice and exploitation suffered by Sarawak and Sabah over the decades,” she said in a statement today.
Soo said she welcomes Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor’s statement as reported in an online news portal recently saying that he concurred with a motion to reject the Territorial Sea Act (TSA).
She reiterated that Sarawak and Sabah have special protections as enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and Federal Constitution (FC), and the application of the TSA to the Borneo States is unconstitutional and therefore, unlawful.
According to her, TSA had usurped the sovereignty of the Borneo States by reducing its territorial waters from 12 nautical miles to three nautical miles which was done without the express consent of Sarawak and Sabah through the State Legislature.
“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. —DayakDaily
