KUCHING: Batu Kitang State assemblyman Dato’ Ir. Lo Khere Chiang has dismissed Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s recent remarks glorifying the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974 as a symbol of national unity, calling it a “revisionist tale designed to protect federal-centric interests at the expense of Sarawak.”
“Tengku Razaleigh’s attempt to present the PDA as the cornerstone of unity is nothing more than a revisionist tale meant to shield federal interests while unfairly shifting blame onto Sarawak’s departed leaders, who can no longer defend themselves,” Lo said.
He stressed that history tells a different story. “Before 1963, foreign companies like Shell dominated our hydrocarbon resources, but to suggest the PDA was what freed Malaysia from foreign control is simply false. The real shift came in 1976, with production sharing contracts after the global oil shocks. It was a commercial adjustment, not an act of national solidarity.”
Lo also rejected claims that former Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Rahman Ya’kub willingly gave away Sarawak’s oil. “Yes, a Vesting Deed was signed in 1975. But Sarawak’s State Assembly never debated or ratified the PDA, and its validity in Sarawak has been disputed ever since. Even the late Adenan Satem reminded us the PDA was never passed in the Council Negeri and therefore could not bind Sarawak,” he said.
He pointed out that Sarawak has repeatedly asserted its rights, citing the state’s successful imposition of the Sales Tax on petroleum in 2019, the Distribution of Gas Ordinance of 2016 and its amendments in 2023, and federal exemptions acknowledging Sarawak’s authority over gas distribution.
“If the PDA had truly settled everything in 1974, then why have these exemptions, court rulings, and reaffirmations been necessary?” he asked. “The answer is clear: the PDA was never absolute in Sarawak, never consented to by our legislature, and never capable of overriding the safeguards of the Malaysia Agreement 1963.”
Lo stressed that real unity lies in respect for MA63 and the Inter-Governmental Committee Report, not in emergency-era legislation. “What unites Malaysia is not the PDA but agreements solemnly entered into by equal partners. When Putrajaya trampled those covenants in 1974, it planted the seeds of mistrust we are still struggling to heal,” he said.
He added that Sarawak has never shirked its responsibility to Malaysia but will not accept distorted narratives. “Sarawakians must remain clear-eyed. We will not accept revisionist myths. We will assert our rights as partners, resist any portrayal of our leaders as willing collaborators, and continue to expose the PDA for what it was a centralising instrument, not a covenant of unity,” Lo declared.
By Connie Chieng