TWO bills and the fate of an opposition lawmaker have guaranteed that the Sarawak assembly sitting which starts today will be a heated affair.

But more than that, whether these bills get passed and in what form will determine the land rights of natives and their continued support for the Gabungan Parti Sarawak government.  

The regional government is tabling a bill to amend the Sarawak Land Code and another bill to amend the 60-year-old Oil Mining Ordinance.

The Land Code bill will have drastic consequences for natives in their claims to their tribal lands.

The ordinance will impact whether Sarawak or Petronas has the final say on who owns the region’s rich oil and gas fields.

Meanwhile, Pujut assemblyman Dr Ting Tiong Choon is attending the eight-day sitting with the proverbial “axe over his head”.

On July 13, the Appeals Court will deliver its ruling whether Ting will remain a lawmaker after it was discovered that he held dual citizenships as a Malaysian and Australian.

The Sarawak Land Code was once described as “a unique piece of legislation” because it reflected the complexity of the state’s multi-indigenous and rich customary culture and is designed to protect the rights of native tribes.

It is being amended to overcome a 2016 Federal Court decision that ruled that native claims over their “pemakai menoa” (territorial domain) and “pulau galau” (communal forest reserve) have no force of law.

The anger over this decision by Sarawak’s tribes, such as the Dayak and Bidayuh, is only matched by how upset they are with the amendment itself, drafts of which have been leaked to the public.

Leaked copies of the draft amendment show that natives will get the right to use but not own these lands, that the plots are limited to only 500ha and that they have to apply to the Land and Survey Department for the land.

They also cannot use the terms “pulau galau” or “pemakai menoa” to describe their communal lands.

Sarawak opposition parties PKR and DAP will mount a fierce challenge to the amended land code being passed despite the fact that they only have 10 reps in the 82-seat assembly.

Besides the land code, Pandungan assemblyman Wong King Wei (DAP) said opposition members are likely to clash with the government over what to do with Petronas’ claim to the state’s fossil fuel fields.

Wong said the issue is whether the dispute is a legal or political issue.

The opposition has said it is a legal problem as they claimed the controversial Petroluem Development Act 1974 (PDA) gave Petronas ownership.

The state government has, however, said the PDA is invalid in Sarawak as it was never ratified by the legislative assembly.

The debate in the coming week, Wong said, could be on whether Sarawak is legally right in stopping Petronas, “the owner”, from extracting the oil and gas which legally belong to it.

Petronas last month filed an application before the Federal Court seeking to declare that according to the PDA, the firm is the exclusive owner of all petroleum resources in Malaysia.

It also wants a declaration that it is the regulator for the oil and gas upstream industry.

The apex court rejected its application and told the national oil company to file its case at the high court. – July 9, 2018.