THE Sarawak Association for Peoples’ Aspiration (Sapa) will stage a “peaceful petroleum protest” in Miri on Saturday, to object to Petronas’ claim it has monopoly over the state’s oil and gas.

Lina Soo, president of the association once declared an illegal organisation by the previous Barisan Nasional government, said the protest was against the national oil company’s 44 years of “sucking out” Sarawak’s petroleum resources.

“After 44 years of having our oil and gas wealth sucked out with little compensation, Sarawak, to this day, remains one of the poorest territories in Malaysia.”

The protesters, who will be dressed in black to reflect the rally’s theme, “Sarawak Soil, Sarawak Oil”, will gather at the Miri Central Field before making their way to the Petronas headquarters in Lutong – 7.5km away – to deliver a memorandum to officials.

Sapa is appealing to all those in Miri, including politicians from both sides of the divide, to support the initiative “to get justice from natural resources, particularly oil and gas, found in our soil and offshore”.

The group appealed against its 2014 ban all the way to the Federal Court, and in July this year, the apex court struck out the appeals by former home minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Registrar of Societies and federal government against the Court of Appeal’s decision not to ban Sapa, which was previously deemed a threat to security and public order. – September 6, 2018.