Sarawak people has questioned the validity of Malaysia Agreement 1963 citing the agreement signed by an independent country (Federation of Malaya) and two colonies of Britain namely Sabah and Sarawak and because of the inequality in status of these three parties making the agreement null and void according to united nations rulings.

It seems that such validity problem lingered into another document known as Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA74). The document has been treated by Sarawakian as a curse on Sarawak people as the signatory (Sarawak Ex Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Haji Abdul Rahman Bin Ya’Kub) on the document “grant in perpetuity and convey to and vest in PETRONAS the ownership in and the exclusive rights, powers, liberties and privileges of exploring, exploiting, winning and obtaining petroleum whether lying onshore or offshore of Malaysia. The grant, conveyance and vesting made hereunder shall be irrevocable and shall enure for the benefit of PETRONAS and its successor.”

All this while we are made to understand that with that PDA 1974 legal document, Sarawak lost everything on oil and gas resources forever and are angry with that ex Chief Minister and then Sarawak government.
However, by a closer look on this page 12 of the Petroleum Development Act 1974 bearing the then Sarawak Chief Minister signature, one will notice the part that mentioned “lying onshore or offshore of Malaysia” and it is never mentioned as “lying onshore or offshore of Sarawak” as such the document cannot be a valid document because Sarawak Chief Minister could not sign on behalf of the rest of Malaysia partners namely Sabah, Sarawak and Federation of Malaya. It could be a legal and valid document if the document was jointly signed by then Sabah Chief Minister, the then Sarawak Chief Minister and then Prime Minister of Federation of Malaya. Without these two additional signatures and without Sabah and Federation of Malaya jointly “grant in perpetuity and convey to and vest in PETRONAS the ownership in and the exclusive rights, powers, liberties and privileges of exploring, exploiting, winning and obtaining petroleum whether lying onshore or offshore of Malaysia” the document is a fraud. As such Sarawak’s oil and gas ownership/rights is intact.

With this finding, Sarawak government is in the position to decide/dictate new terms and conditions for PETRONAS with terms favoring Sarawak government (refer to China – Philippines Petroleum agreement terms and conditions) and treating PETRONAS as one of the investors of Sarawak and no longer need to refer to Petroleum Development Act 1974. Sarawak government is free to engage any other oil and gas companies to explore oil and gas in Sarawak.

As Sarawak government has set up own petroleum company PETROS, for the interest of public, audited account and list of shareholders and directors should be made known to public to prove that the Sarawak petroleum company operation is clean and transparent. PETROS ideally should be evolved into a Sarawak based company answerable to Sarawak people. Directors and shareholders therefore must be Sarawakian.

Operation of Sarawak petroleum company main objective should be for the growth and development of Sarawak to benefit Sarawak people in term of equal chance of employment and education as well as better infrastructure to boost foreign investment and tourism. With the full revenue from oil and gas, it is time for Sarawak government to complete the Pan Borneo Highway without further delay and to plan ahead railway system for whole Sarawak and allocate sufficient development fund for each city, town and district based on submitted council budget and private sector (especially agricultural sector) and SME requirement. A special unit should be set up to assist the export of Sarawak products with the setting up of Trade Council in various countries.

Special attention should be focused on possibility of abuse of position and corruption by adopting zero tolerance for corruption.
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Parti Bumi Kenyalang is with Sarawak people and having an achievable mission : IN QUEST OF INDEPENDENCE

For the better future of Sarawak, we urge Sarawakian to work with us and support us in the coming election.

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PARTI BUMI KENYALANG

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