Kota Kinabalu: Sabah State Reform Party (Star) said the revelations by former United National Kadazan Organisation (Unko) Deputy Secretary-General Tan Sri Majid Khan recently regarding Federal Government policy on oil proved that Federal leaders were prepared to concoct lies "to steal Sabah's oil and gas."Its Chief, Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, said the explanation by Federal leaders in the 1970s that oil found on-shore belongs to Sabah while offshore belonged to the Federal Government showed that it wants Sabah's oil and gas at all costs.
He was commenting on a talk presented by Tan Sri Majid Khan at the recent forum "The Formation of Malaysia - The Untold Story" organised by the Sabah Society.
Advertisement
Majid, according to Jeffrey, had said that whether it is true or lawful was another matter and it was up to the present Sabahans to take the matter to court to determine its legitimacy.
"Obviously, the lies were perpetuated to 'persuade' Sabah leaders then to sign the Oil Agreement and agreeing to accept 5 per cent as 'cash payment' for ownership of the entire oil and gas resources in Sabah to Petronas.
"Sabah's oil and gas were earlier unlawfully vested in Petronas on March 27, 1975 and what was left was for the Federal leaders to 'persuade' Sabah leaders to accept 5 per cent for the purported vesting of the oil resources in Petronas," he said.
Apparently, he said, the late former Chief Minister Tun Mustapha and the late former Chief Minister Tun Fuad Stephens refused to sign the Oil Agreement, including the proposed signing on June 6, 1976.
Jeffrey, who is also Bingkor Assemblyman, noted in 1954 the international boundary of Sabah (North Borneo then) was extended to include the area of the continental shelf being the seabed and its subsoil which lies beneath the high seas contiguous to the territorial waters of North Borneo by The North Borneo (Alteration of Boundaries) Order in Council 1954 made on Sept 24 by Her Majesty at Buckingham Palace in London.
Secondly, the 1963 Federal Constitution provides that the territory of Sabah as the territory comprised therein immediately before Malaysia Day on Sept 16, 1963 which is the 1954 international boundary.
Thirdly, when Petronas was formed in 1974, four of the 19 oilfields in Sabah and Sarawak were already producing about 99,000 barrels per day.
Fourthly, petroleum resources in Sabah including licensing and collection of royalties as Sabah's revenue comes within the ambit of Section 24 of the Sabah Land Ordinance (Cap. 68) which was passed in 1930, long before even the formation of Malaysia.
Fifthly, under Article 74 of the Federal Constitution, land matters that include petroleum resources come within the authority of the State List under the 9th Schedule.
Jeffrey said permits and licences for prospecting for mines, mining leases and certificates also come within the ambit of the State List under the 9th Schedule.
Hence, he claimed the Malayan Federal leaders had no legal basis to assert that the oil resources lying offshore off Sabah belonged to the Federal Government.
"Moreover, the Malaysian Parliament has no business legislating the Petroleum Development Act, (PDA) 1974 when the matters come within the ambit of the State List under the 9th Schedule.
"The PDA is a worthless unconstitutional legislation, yet, it is still used to siphon off 95 per cent of Sabah's oil and gas resources until today without a whimper of objections from Sabah BN leaders," he said.
Jeffrey said the foolishness is made worse when they agreed to waive the imposition of royalties on the oil and gas produced which otherwise would have been payable by Petronas and the major oil corporations under Section 24 of the Land Ordinance.
On this, he said, the loss of these royalties would have been between 12 per cent and 30 per cent if the figures given by Tengku Razaleigh is any yardstick to go by.
"A 30 per cent royalty on the RM18 billion collected by Petronas would have netted the Sabah Government an additional RM5.4 billion in additional revenue in 2012 to the RM3.7 billion State Budget revenue collected locally.
"As advised by Majid, the ball is now at the feet of present-day Sabahans to take up the issue of ownership and revenue sharing of Sabah's oil and gas resources," he said.
