In a letter to FMT, the Multimedia University law lecturer said that both the Continental Shelf Act 1966 (CSA) and the Petroleum Mining Act 1966 (PMA), fell within the legislative power of Parliament.

He said it was the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 1969 (EEPO) that “facilitated the necessary legal framework for coordinated exploration of petroleum resources to benefit the nation”.

The Petroleum Development Act (PDA) was later introduced in 1974 to provide a clearer legal framework for the management of oil and gas resources. It came after the EEPO was used to fast-track decisions following the May 13 riots.

Once Parliament reconvened in 1971, the PDA became a way to move oil and gas matters out of emergency rule and into proper legislation, allowing for more structured engagement between the federal government and the oil-producing states.

Previously, historian Shakila Yacob from Sunway University told FMT that all states consented to the PDA, and that there were no recorded objections from Sarawak MPs when the legislation was debated in Parliament.

Hafiz said the constitutional and legal hurdles were not easy to overcome, especially the vested and protected proprietary rights of the states of Sabah and Sarawak in the sea-bed of the continental shelf.

“The only real solution would have been negotiations and agreement between the federal government and the states concerned.

“Before such negotiations could be undertaken the country was faced with a national crisis as a result of an outbreak of communal rioting and violence,” he said, citing legal scholar V K Moorthy.

“On May 15, 1969, a state of national emergency was declared. Parliament next sat on Feb 20, 1971. Between these two dates, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong was empowered by Article 150(2) of the Federal Constitution to ‘promulgate ordinances having the force of law if satisfied that immediate action is required’.”

“In the meanwhile, action was called for in the petroleum sector; there was an urgency to establish some form of centralised control over the petroleum industry,” Moorthy was quoted as saying, resulting in amendments to the two laws.

“The (EEPO) amended the CSA and the PMA so that these Acts applied not only in the states of Malaya but in East Malaysia as well.”

Hafiz said this context should answer claims of “federal overreach” and claims that the federal government had “sidestepped constitutional safeguards” in the process.

Such claims, he argued, ignored the fact that the country was led at the time by the “illustrious” Tunku Abdul Rahman, “recognised by historians as one of modern Asia’s political giants”.

He said Tunku was widely acknowledged and remembered as a mediator and reconciler, and that Section 4(3) of the PMA had been carefully drafted to balance state and federal authority.

It provided for the ruler or governor of the state concerned to be the petroleum authority in respect of on-shore land, he said, while the king was to exercise the function in respect of offshore land.

“If not for the Emergency, Tunku would have started negotiations with the states of Sabah and Sarawak on exploration of the petroleum resources to implement a well-coordinated national development plan for the nation,” he added.

Hafiz said CSA and PMA were authorised by the Federal Constitution, and that the Emergency Ordinance “was necessary given the circumstances the country was in”.

“If the federal government had waited for Parliament to convene, opportunities could have been lost.”

He said the move laid the groundwork for the PDA, which established Petronas as the central authority over Malaysia’s petroleum resources.

Sarawak politicians have in recent times repeatedly challenged Petronas’s claim to hydrocarbon resources in and around the state, claiming that it violates Sarawak’s constitutional and legal rights.

In February, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that the Sarawak government had agreed that the PDA would remain the overarching federal law sector governing the oil and gas industry.

The agreement also stipulated that Petroleum Sarawak Bhdd (Petros) would be appointed gas aggregator for the state. The agreement is still under negotiation, with several issues yet to be resolved, including licensing and revenue share.