KUCHING: Was the creation of Bintulu Port under the Bintulu Port Authority Act 1981 (Act 243) undertaken following due process of law?
This a big question mark, said president of the State Reform Party (STAR) Lina Soo.
She said she agreed with the federal Transport Minister Anthony Loke that Bintulu Port is a federal port if its creation was according to Schedule 9 of the Federation of Malaya Constitution Item (9)(b)(i) which states that ports and harbours are on the Federal List if declared to be federal by or under federal law.
“One bigger overriding federal law is Article 95D of the Federal Constitution which states that there is exclusion for the states of Sabah and Sarawak of Parliament’s power to pass uniform laws about land or local government.”
Therefore, Parliament does not have unfettered power to pass any law which touches on Sarawak land, said Soo.
Soo explained that under Article 76(1)(c) of the Federal Constitution, it is definitive that the Parliament may make law on any state matter, but there is a caveat that it has to be upon request by the State Legislative Assembly, meaning DUN must approve it first.
“If Bintulu Port is on federal land, then did Sarawak give consent for the land to be gazetted as federal land?” Soo questioned.
“Giving away our land to the federal government is an alteration to our Sarawak boundary and territorial integrity, and this can only be done through passing a law in our DUN as per Article (2)(b) of the Federal Constitution.”
Soo surmised that there were two facets to the Bintulu Port issues — whether the Bintulu Port Authority Act 1981 (Act 243) in itself is unconstitutional; and/or the land upon which Bintulu Port lies is gazetted federal land, and if so, was it through constitutional process with the consent of the DUN?
Soo said she believed the recent statements by Deputy Chief Minister James Masing and Muara Tuang assemblyman Idris Buang on Bintulu Port had their merits, adding that the Sarawak government should spare no effort to take over Bintulu Port if indeed Sarawak rights had been subverted.
She said it was imperative that Sarawak own the port which ships the state LNG (liquefied natural gas) for export.
“For the last 38 years, Sarawak doesn’t even know how much gas has been shipped out because we are not able to install tracking devices which can actually be done easily with satellite technology.
“We should take over Bintulu Port, by constitutional means or by negotiation, because every day is of great economic loss to Sarawak the longer we dilly-dally over our oil and gas,” she concluded.
