TSI to host a webinar to look into PDA 1974’s relevancy and fair amendments

Ling will be speaking at TSI special online webinar.

KUCHING (March 4): The Sarawak Initiatives (TSI) is holding a special online webinar entitled ‘How to move forward on the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974’ today, March 12 via Zoom at 2.30pm.

The webinar which will be delivered by veteran lawyer Alex Ling will explore the entirety of the act’s inception, its relevancy and how many of the current laws that should be rectified to meet the current needs, especially in the distribution of oil royalties from the sales of crude oil and gases from the coastal shores of Sarawak and Sabah to the Federal Government.

“It will also look into the appropriate amendments of the acts through fair, amicable, and diplomatic negotiations with all relevant parties.

“The Act, enacted in 1974, has entrusted Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) the entire ownership in, and the exclusive rights, powers, liberties and privileges of exploring, exploiting, winning and obtaining petroleum whether onshore or offshore of Malaysia,” said TSI.

Meanwhile, Ling said that Sarawak and Sabah, which have dominions over their oil and gas with exclusive rights to issue licences, need to be restored by making PDA 1974 inapplicable to the Borneo Territories as the Federal Government has only imperium powers of supervision.

“PDA 1974, Territorial Sea Act 2012 and Act A 354 had seriously breached the seven entrenched provisions of the Federal Constitution, especially Article 2(b) on the void alterations of the boundaries of the 360 nautical miles of Continental Shelf.

“This including 200 nautical miles of EEZ (exclusive economic zone) and 12 nautical miles of the territorial waters of the Borneo states, reconfirmed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea apart from the seven protective municipal laws,” he added.

Ling, a law graduate, attended the Methodist Primary School in Sibu, Millfield School Somerset in England and St Joseph’s School, Kuching, before he went to University of Cambridge in 1965.

After that, he did the post graduate degree majoring in tax, corporate law, constitutional law, public and private International Laws.

The veteran lawyer was called to the Bar in 1970 in Lincoln’s Inn and had worked in Yong and Wong, before he joined Rodyk & Davidson and David Marshall’s legal firm in Singapore.

He has helmed a few directorship positions in the banking sector, his other extensive portfolio included director of LBS Timber Group in Malaysia and Indonesia from 1971 to 2000. He was also involved in businesses in the mining sector with large investments in natural resources such oil, gas and coal.

He has also published a series of articles on the Malaysia Act 1963 (MA63) and oil and gas issues in the local media.

He is currently writing a biography of the late chief minister Pehin Sri Adenan Satem, entitled “Why YAB Adenan Satem Crossed the Red Line”.

To register, visit TSI’s website at www.thesarawakinitiatives.org or contact 019-8767928.

from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3vzVv5M
via IFTTT