SARAWAK Pakatan Harapan lawmakers would have “sold” the state’s oil and gas to Putrajaya if they were still in power, said Parti Rakyat Sarawak president James Masing.

The PH assemblymen would also endorse the Territorial Sea Acts of 2012 if they controlled the state assembly, he said.

The state often describes the 2012 law as Putrajaya’s attempt to plunder its oil and gas resources.

“If the PH government had controlled Sarawak state legislative assembly, the Territorial Sea Acts of 2012, I am sure, would have been endorsed, and our oil and gas wealth would be taken by Putrajaya,” he told members of his party at their 16th anniversary in Kuching last night.

Masing added that “more Petronas Towers-sized buildings would have been erected, and more infrastructures in Malaya will be constructed using our revenue”.

“The federal government wants these possibly rich oil and gas fields under their control.

“Fortunately, Sarawak state assembly is under our (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) control and we opposed the enactment of the Territorial Sea Act,” he said.

Emphasising the importance of controlling the legislature, Masing said the next state elections are, therefore, “more than just an election of individual candidates”

“It is about controlling Sarawak assembly.”

Losing is not an option, he said.

“Winning does matter, if we want to keep our wealth for the development of this state.”

Pro-independent politician, Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan in a statement to rebut Masing’s claim today, said the deputy chief minister should not deny the fact that Sarawak lost its oil and gas resources under the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974 when GPS, then as Sarawak Barisan Nasional, allowed the law to pass.

The act allows all of Sarawak’s oil and gas to be vested to Petronas.

“The GPS government should be responsible for the loss of these resources by passing of PDA74 and Territorial Sea Act 2012.

“They were in the federal government and allowed the passing of PDA74 to take Sarawak’s right to its oil and gas away.”

Voon said it is not difficult to get Sarawak’s oil and gas back as GPS was now part of the Perikatan Nasional federal government. – October 22, 2020.