Fong said while international laws recognise the continental shelf as belonging to a country, Sarawak’s rights as a constituent state within Malaysia should remain untouched, The Borneo Post reported.
“Malaysia can claim continental rights to the continental shelf for the nation. But within the country, the states – the constituent states – have their own power over the continental shelf which is within the territory of the respective states.
“So we should not, at any time, give up our rights … our claim to the continental shelf,” he was quoted as saying at a forum at Swinburne University of Technology’s Sarawak campus in Kuching.
Fong explained that Sarawak’s continental shelf rights were secured under the Sarawak (Alteration of Boundaries) Order in Council 1954, which was signed by the late Queen Elizabeth II when Sarawak was still a British colony.
He said Sarawak’s boundaries were extended to include the continental shelf being the seabed and subsoil underneath the high seas contiguous to the territorial waters of the state.
“That was the decision of the colonial government in London because at that time, oil and gas were discovered offshore Sarawak. We wanted those areas to be part of Sarawak so that Sarawak could claim ownership,” he said.
He also said the definition of state land in the Land Code includes parts of the sea within Sarawak’s extended boundaries. Originally described as Crown land in the 1958 Land Code, this was changed to state land following Malaysia Day.
“When sovereignty was transferred by the queen under the Malaysia Agreement (1963), it was transferred to the Sarawak government, not to the federation.
“Sovereignty over Sarawak, ownership and possession of land and resources in Sarawak were never vested in the federal government,” he said, adding that this position was reinforced when the state obtained self-government on July 22, 1963, before joining Malaysia on Sept 16 the same year.
‘Petroleum Mining Act not applicable to Sarawak’
Commenting on federal laws, Fong said the Petroleum Mining Act 1966 and the Continental Shelf Act 1966 were initially not applicable to Sarawak, as the state government under then chief minister Tawi Sli opposed their extension on constitutional grounds.
However, following the 1969 racial riots in the peninsula, the emergency was declared and both Acts were extended to Sarawak under Emergency Essential Provisions Ordinance No. 10, he said.
After the Proclamation of Emergency was annulled in 2011, the ordinance lapsed the following year, making the two Acts no longer applicable to Sarawak. “The continental shelf is state land, regulated by state laws – the Land Code and the Oil Mining Ordinance,” he said.
Fong also said international law such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 1982 extended the definition of the continental shelf to 200 nautical miles.
He said while Malaysia can claim sovereignty over the continental shelf as a country, it shall not affect the territory of the state or the limits of the territorial waters of the state and the rights of the state authorities therein.
No intention to kill ‘golden goose’
Suara Sarawak reported Fong as saying that the state did not intend to sideline Petronas or diminish its role in the nation’s energy sector but was concerned that Sarawak’s gas resources may not remain sustainable if large volumes continue to be exported.
He said about 65% of Malaysia’s gas reserves are in Sarawak, yet 94% of the produce is liquefied and exported to Japan, Korea and China.
“Petronas is like a goose that lays golden eggs.
“In Sarawak, we have no intention of killing any goose that lays golden eggs. But we are worried that one day the goose may stop laying eggs.”