SARAWAK is looking at its constitutional rights over state assets that the federal government has been managing over the years, said Deputy Chief Minister James Masing.

Masing said this when reiterating that Sarawak wants to take over the federally managed Bintulu port.

He was reacting to Transport Minister Anthony Loke’s statement that it will be difficult for Sarawak to reclaim the port as it was put under federal authority through an act of law in Parliament.

“It is a federal port and we have a federal legislation,” Loke was reported as telling reporters at the Miri DAP headquarters this morning.

Masing, who has been given the new portfolio of infrastructure and ports development, said laws passed by Parliament cannot be implemented in Sarawak without the endorsement of Sarawak state assembly.

For example, he said the Territorial Sea Act (TSA), which was passed by Parliament in 2012, was declared null and void by the Sarawak government last year.

The TSA, which reduced the state’s sea boundary to just 4.8km from shore from the previous 200km, had been declared not enforceable because state legislative assembly never endorsed it as required by law.

“The federal laws which the transport minister mentioned may be one of them,” he said in a short statement.

Consolidating and upgrading the ports is one of the five key areas in the state government’s focus as it aims to be a developed state in 2030.

Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg said the state wants “to consolidate port management and operation as per the constitution”.

The Bintulu Port Authority – the authority that manages the port – was established on August 15, 1981 under the Bintulu Port Authority Act, making it a federal statutory body under the Transport Ministry. – September 2, 2019.