SARAWAKIANS continue to question Pakatan Harapan’s U-turn on its election promise of increasing oil royalty payments from 5% to 20% with Deputy Chief Minister James Masing continuing to be at the forefront of the denouncement.

The social media was flooded with postings denouncing the new PH stand and a posting by Peter Saban in his Whatsapp stating he had been “conned by PH” was reflective of the postings and anger felt by many in Sarawak.

“Malaysians, particularly Sarawakians have been tricked by Pakatan Harapan with their he manifesto,” Masing said.

“Now they are (trying to wiggle) their way out of the hole of broken promises.

“We must know that populist governments all over the world don’t last. Malaysian PH government is no exception,” Masing said.

“Once peple know of their trickery they will fall or their loose coalition will collapse.”

He said the “good and genuine ones” in PH will walk out.

“When that happens, the coalition will fall.”

A small non-aligned political party, Star (State Reform Party Sarawak), also joined the condemnation on the oil payment.

“Barely 80 days in government, the federal government is already back peddling and singing a different song when it comes to Sarawak oil,” Star president Lina Soo said in a media conference today.

Soo said she is “shocked and outraged” at the latest statement on oil policy that the 20% oil royalty as promised in their manifesto will be calculated based on 20% of profit after tax and not 20% on gross sales revenue.

This, she said, is an overt departure from the agreed royalty formula of percentage of gross sales revenue as prescribed in the Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA 1974).

Soo said the new policy is a blatant attempt by the PH federal government “to drag and divert us (Sarawak) further from resolving the real issue of Sarawak exercising the ownership rights and equity of petroleum resources in the state.

“The federal government has reneged on its election promise regarding the 20% oil royalty, Soo said, and with the latest development, she wonders if there is hidden provocative agenda behind the announcement .

She called on the Sarawak government not to fall into the trap of negotiating on the 20% royalty as she said the issue of ownership rights of oil and gas are already resolved under Sarawak Oil Mining Ordinance Amendment.

“The issue of oil royalty as to whether it is a percentage of gross sales revenue or of profit after tax is non-negotiable.”

In view of this latest development, Soo called on the state government to call for a special sitting of the state legislative assembly to reject PDA 1974 and Territorial Sea Act 2012 as federal laws that are non-applicable to Sarawak.

The Territorial Sea Act restricts the state’s sea boundary to just 3 miles (RM4.8km) offshore instead of 350 miles (563km). – July 26, 2018.