Batu Kitang rep: Dressing up PDA as ‘unifying gift’ insults Sarawak’s intelligence, rights

By DayakDaily Team

KUCHING, Sept 18: Batu Kitang assemblyman Dato Ir Lo Khere Chiang has rebutted former finance minister Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s attempt to glorify the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974 as a symbol of Malaysian unity, calling it a “revisionist tale” designed to shield federal interests while unfairly shifting blame onto Sarawak’s departed leaders who can no longer defend themselves.

“History and the documentary record tell a different story, and Sarawakians will not allow myths to masquerade as truth,” Lo said in a statement today.

He said Razaleigh’s narrative that Malaysia freed itself from foreign oil domination through the PDA was “patently false”, pointing out that the real shift came only in 1976 when oil concessions were renegotiated into production sharing contracts after the global oil shocks of the 1970s.

“Malaysia paid its way into control through bargaining and contracts, not by some mystical moment of national solidarity. PETRONAS’ own timeline and Shell’s corporate record confirm this.

“Those contracts were a commercial recalibration, not an act of colonial charity inspired by unity,” he stressed.

Lo also rejected attempts to invoke the name of former Sarawak chief minister Tun Datuk Patinggi Abdul Rahman Ya’kub as one who “gave away” Sarawak’s oil. He pointed out that while a Vesting Deed was signed in 1975, Sarawak’s State Legislative Assembly never debated or ratified the PDA, and its validity in the State has been contested ever since.

“The late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem reminded us that the PDA was never passed in the Council Negeri and therefore could not be binding on Sarawak,” he said, adding that Sarawak’s legislative powers over gas distribution were explicitly preserved in the Borneo States (Legislative Powers) Order 1963, rights which have never been extinguished despite Putrajaya’s centralising moves.

To reinforce his point, Lo highlighted a series of milestones proving Sarawak’s autonomy over its resources. In 2019, Sarawak imposed its State Sales Tax on petroleum, PETRONAS paid nearly RM3 billion in arrears after losing in court, and the fiction of absolute PDA supremacy collapsed. In 2016, Sarawak passed the Distribution of Gas Ordinance, in 2023 Sarawak empowered PETROS as sole gas aggregator, in 2021 the federal government itself exempted Sarawak from Section 6 of the PDA, and just this May 2025 a joint declaration reaffirmed Sarawak’s executive authority over gas distribution.

He asked pointedly: “If the PDA settled everything in 1974, why were all these exemptions and reaffirmations necessary? The answer is obvious: because the PDA was never absolute in Sarawak, never consented to by our legislature, and never capable of extinguishing the constitutional safeguards written into the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).”

Lo argued that what truly binds Malaysia together is not an emergency-era law bulldozed through Parliament without Sarawak’s consent, but solemn covenants such as the MA63 and the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report.

“When Putrajaya trampled on those agreements in 1974, it did not create unity; it planted the seeds of decades of mistrust that we are still struggling to heal,” he said.

He dismissed Razaleigh’s warning about foreign interference as misplaced. “Sarawak has pursued its rights through courts, our legislature, and negotiations. That is not disunity. That is constitutionalism in action. What drives investors away is not Sarawak asserting its rights, but senior figures in Peninsular Malaysia rewriting history to belittle the very foundation of our federation,” he said.

Reaffirming Sarawak’s stance, Lo declared: “Sarawak has never shirked its responsibility to Malaysia. We have paid our dues, we have contributed our resources, and we have sought only what was promised: equality, autonomy, and respect. We are willing to cooperate, but we will not be patronised.

“To dress up the PDA as a unifying gift while ignoring the exemptions, court victories, and State laws that now define the field is to disregard Sarawak’s intelligence and constitutional rights,” he said.

Lo concluded with a firm call to Sarawakians: “We must remain clear-eyed. The battle is not about one man’s memory or another’s silence. It is about whether we accept a distorted narrative or stand firm on the documented truth. We will resist all attempts to portray our leaders as collaborators in the stripping of Sarawak’s resources. The PDA was not a covenant of unity, but a centralising instrument enacted under emergency powers.” — DayakDaily

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