KOTA KINABALU: Two Sabah Pakatan Harapan lawmakers have challenged former chief ministers Tan Sri Harris Salleh and Tan Sri Pairin Joseph Kitingan to explain why they signed an agreement with the Federal Government that led to the establishment of the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974.
DAP's Kadamain assemblyman Datuk Ewon Benedick and Phoong Jin Zhe, the Luyang representative, claimed the PDA was akin to surrendering Sabah’s rights over its oil and gas resources.
“Harris and Pairin have made it into the front pages of the news of late over their statements on the undocumented migrants issue in Sabah. But what about the PDA?” they said, in a joint statement here on Friday (July 8).
“Both Harris and Pairin were signatories to the PDA, which was a big mistake as Sabah forever lost its authority over oil and gas resources,” they added.
The PDA came into force in 1974 which subsequently paved the way for the formation of the national oil company Petroliam National Bhd (Petronas).
The PDA states that Petronas is the regulator of all oil and gas assets in Malaysia.
According to Benedick and Phoong, Sabah has been constantly plagued to this day with a poor road network, problematic water and electricity supply, lack of healthcare and education facilities as well as other social amenities, especially in the rural areas, because of the PDA.
“As the chief minister and minister who signed the agreement with Petronas then, we urge and challenge both Harris and Pairin respectively to come forward and clarify why they made the decision.
“To date, they have never issued any statement or explanation on their decision related to PDA. They will be remembered for this mistake which cannot be forgiven by the people of Sabah,” they said.
Benedick and Phoong said that the veteran leaders should be as vocal about the PDA in addition to talking about who allegedly was responsible for issuing Malaysian identity cards to undocumented migrants in Sabah.
Pairin had previously said Sabah's undocumented migrant problem had been festering due to political agenda and lack of enforcement since the 1980s.
He said there was a political agenda to topple his Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS)-led state government then, which was reflected in the 2014 Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into Sabah's undocumented migrants issue.
This pointed to the existence of “Project IC”, which was the alleged systematic granting of citizenship to undocumented migrants, under Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's federal administration then, he said in a statement on July 5.
This was in response to veteran DAP leader Lim Kit Siang who demanded Pairin explain what he had been doing as chairman of the RCI working committee between 2014 and 2018.
Harris subsequently waded into the issue, claiming in a local daily report on Friday (July 8) that Pairin was actually to blame for Project IC as he pushed Dr Mahathir to allegedly introduce such a method.
He said Dr Mahathir felt threatened when PBS, then a component of Barisan Nasional, decided to suddenly take on Barisan on the eve of the 1990 general election.
“The Federal Government then intensified the granting of citizenship to mostly Malay stock. Hundreds and thousands were reportedly given citizenship to offset any shortfall.
“Therefore, Pairin cannot escape the blame for the issuance of citizenship (to undocumented migrants),” Harris was quoted as saying in a Daily Express report.
