KUCHING, Sept 4: Transport Minister Anthony Loke’s remark on the authority over Bintulu Port, while on point, the bigger question was whether the creation of the port followed due process of the law.
State Reform Party (Star) president Lina Soo raised the question amid agreement with Loke that Bintulu Port is a federal port if the establishment complies with Schedule 9 of the Federation of Malaya Constitution item (9)(b)(i), where ports and harbours are on the Federal List if declared to be federal by or under federal law.
“The crux of the matter is whether the creation of Bintulu Port, under Bintulu Port Authority Act 1981 (Act 243), was undertaken following due process of law, and this is a big question mark,” she pointed out.
“One bigger overriding federal law is Article 95D of the Federal Constitution, which states that there is exclusion for the states of Sabah and Sarawak of Parliament’s power to pass uniform laws about land or local government,” she said.
Therefore, Soo highlighted that the Parliament does not have unfettered power to pass any law that touches on Sarawak land.
She explained that under Article 76(1)(c) of the Federal Constitution, it is definitive that Parliament may make law on any state matter, but there is a caveat that it has to be upon request by the State Legislative Assembly (DUN), meaning DUN must approve it first.
“If Bintulu Port is on federal land, then has Sarawak given consent for the land to be gazetted as federal land?” she asked.
“Giving away our land to the federal government is an alteration to Sarawak boundary and territorial integrity, and this can only be done through passing a law in our DUN as per Article (2)(b) of the Federal Constitution,” she said.
Soo surmised there were two facets to the Bintulu Port issues – whether Bintulu Port Authority Act 1981 (Act 243) in itself is unconstitutional, or the land upon which Bintulu Port lies is gazetted federal land and if so, was it through constitutional process with the consent of the DUN.
“We believe the recent statement by our Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing and Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) information chief Datuk Idris Buang on Bintulu Port have their merits, and the Sarawak government must spare no effort to take over Bintulu Port if indeed our Sarawak rights have been subverted,” she advised.
She reminded that it was imperative that Sarawak must own the port, which shipped Sarawak’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) out of the border.
“For the last 38 years, Sarawak doesn’t even know how much gas has been shipped out because we are not able to install tracking devices, which can actually be done easily with satellite technology,” she said.
“We should take over Bintulu Port, by constitutional means or by negotiation, because everyday is of great economic loss to Sarawak the longer we dilly dally over our oil and gas,” she said. — DayakDaily
