Deputy minister in the Sarawak premier’s department Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali said the petition, filed at the Federal Court today, seeks to determine the constitutional validity and continued applicability of the laws.
The three laws are the Petroleum Development Act 1974, the Continental Shelf Act 1966, and the Petroleum Mining Act 1966.
Sharifah Hasidah said the federal laws affect Sarawak’s boundaries, which were established before Malaysia Day, as well as the state’s rights to petroleum resources located offshore within those boundaries.
“These federal Acts adversely affect and deprive the rights of Sarawak to the natural resources, including oil and gas, found in the seabed of the continental shelf within the boundaries as defined by the Sarawak Order in Council 1954 and the Sarawak Order in Council 1958,” she said in a statement.
“Sarawak is justified in safeguarding the legitimate interests and rights of Sarawak and its people, enshrined in the Federal Constitution as well as in the Malaysia Agreement 1963, by seeking a ruling from the Federal Court on the continuing application and effect of these federal Acts in Sarawak.”
She said the state government would also be objecting to the national oil company’s application for leave to seek clarity on the applicable regulatory framework governing its Sarawak operations.
Petronas filed the motion in the Federal Court on Jan 10, seeking to ensure its operations in the state complied with all applicable laws and governance practices.
It said the suit was not meant to challenge Sarawak’s development aspirations or hinder Petroleum Sarawak Bhd, the state’s sole gas aggregator, but to obtain the apex court’s definitive determination on the legal position applicable to the petroleum sector in the state.
The Federal Court has set March 16 to decide on Petronas’s leave application.
Explaining Sarawak’s objection, Sharifah Hasidah said Petronas’s application does not fall within the Federal Court’s exclusive original jurisdiction as stipulated under the Federal Constitution.
“Therefore, the Sarawak government is constrained to also seek the determination of the Federal Court under the Federal Constitution as to the validity of the said federal Acts in so far as (they apply) to Sarawak,” she said.
She said determining these constitutional issues will also provide clarity on the regulatory framework for the oil and gas industry in Sarawak, especially to investors in the upstream and downstream businesses of the industry.
Sharifah Hasidah said that despite filing the petition, the Sarawak government remains committed to continuing constructive discussions with the federal government “to reach an amicable resolution on these issues”.