MAKE good on the promise to amend the Petroleum Development Act 1974.

This is Assistant Minister in the Sarawak Chief Minister’s Office Abdullah Saidol’s gentle reminder to state Pakatan Harapan chief Chong Chieng Jen.

Abdullah said now that PH has taken over Putrajaya, “Chong must fulfil his promise to table a motion in Parliament to amend PDA, which he announced, and was reported by local papers, on March 11”.

Chong had said he would propose “a small amendment” to Section 2(1) of PDA “to enable Sarawak to reclaim the ownership of petroleum and gas discovered in the state”.

“It is a small amendment, but with great consequences. It is an insertion of two words, ‘excluding Sarawak’, in Section 2(1) of PDA after the word ‘Malaysia’,” he was reported as saying.

Chong, now deputy domestic trade, cooperatives and consumerism minister, had also called on 25 Barisan Nasional MPs from Sarawak to support his motion.

Now, though, Abdullah is turning the tables on the DAP leader.

He said if Chong or any of Sarawak’s PH lawmakers is incapable of doing this even with PH holding federal power, Gabungan Parti Sarawak MPs could push the initiative instead, and see whether state PH lawmakers support the motion.

PDA, a controversial law that gives Petronas monopoly over all oil and gas resources in the country, is deemed not applicable in Sarawak by the state government, as the act, passed when the country was in a state of emergency, was never ratified in the state assembly.

Any federally enacted laws that infringe on state rights have to be ratified by the assembly for them to be applicable in the state.

Petronas last month sought leave for the Federal Court to determine its claims that it has the sole right to and monopoly over all of Sarawak’s oil and gas.

The application was rejected by the apex court. – July 26, 2018.