KUCHING: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said’s assertion that the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) contains no provision on the ownership of oil and gas is “grossly erroneous” and contradicts both historical and constitutional facts, says Senator Susan Chemerai Anding.
She said MA63 not only safeguards Sarawak’s ownership of its oil and gas resources but recognises it as one of the state’s core rights, a position that predates MA63 itself through the Oil Mining Ordinance 1958.
“On the contrary, MA63 protects and safeguards Sarawak’s ownership of its oil and gas resources. In fact, the right to the state’s ownership of oil and gas is one of its core rights, and this legal ownership existed even before MA63 through the Oil Mining Ordinance of 1958,” she said in a statement posted at her Facebook page.
Susan added that Sarawak’s rights over oil and gas were further entrenched after MA63 when constitutional amendments placed oil and gas under the State List in the Federal Constitution.
“MA63’s safeguard of Sarawak’s oil and gas ownership was then subsequently accorded constitutional protection in the Federal Constitution post-MA63, where oil and gas was placed under state list matters so that no federal law can govern our oil and gas without the sanction of our state assembly,” she said.
She said Azalina’s reaffirmation of the Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA), a law widely viewed as eroding Sarawak’s rights over its oil and gas, while simultaneously denying MA63’s established role in protecting those rights, revealed the challenges Sarawak would continue to face.
“With this stance, at least now we can better gauge what we will be up against going forward,” she said.
Susan said Sarawak would maintain its position pending judicial determination, echoing the state leadership’s stance.
“As our Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg has rightly said, we will wait for the outcome from the courts,” she added.
