Petronas, Sarawak govt seek separate hearings for O&G legal challenges

National oil company Petronas and the Sarawak government are seeking to have their petitions challenging the state and federal laws governing oil and gas matters heard separately by the Federal Court.

This was indicated to Federal Court judge Rhodzariah Bujang during a summons for direction proceeding today.

Petronas’s lawyer, Cyrus Das, informed the court that the Sarawak government opposed consolidating the two petitions.

He said the Sarawak government also proposed that its case be heard first followed by the Petronas petition.

Das said Petronas, on the other hand, wanted its petition to be heard first, in accordance with the sequence in which the petitions were filed.

He said his client filed its petition on Jan 10 and obtained leave under Article 4 (4) of the Federal Constitution on March 16, while the Sarawak government filed its petition on Feb 23.

He said the Petronas challenge concerned state laws, while the Sarawak government’s petition challenged federal laws.

“Unless there are compelling reasons from the Sarawak side as to why they should be heard first, I would say we follow the sequence in which the papers were filed.”

The Sarawak government also wants the Federal Court to first decide a preliminary issue concerning a colonial-era order – the Sarawak (Alteration of Boundaries) Order in Council 1954 – which determines the borders of Sarawak and Sabah.

Rhodzariah fixed Oct 1 for further summons for direction proceeding to decide the sequence in which the petitions will be heard, and matters relating to the Sarawak government’s preliminary objection. The hearing of the petitions is tentatively scheduled for the end of January next year.

On March 16, the Federal Court granted Petronas leave to commence proceedings to challenge the competency of the Sarawak state legislature to enact certain laws and declare several laws made by the Sarawak state legislature invalid.

It claimed that the Sarawak state legislature lacked the competence to enact, modify, amend or revise laws with respect to matters under List 1 of the Federal List in the Ninth Schedule of the Federal Constitution.

The Sarawak government, meanwhile, filed a petition against the government of Malaysia and Petronas, asking the Federal Court to determine the constitutional validity and continued applicability of several federal Acts to Sarawak.

The Sarawak government is seeking, among others, a declaration that the Petroleum Development Act 1974, the Continental Shelf Act 1966 and the Petroleum Mining Act 1966 as applied to Sarawak were unconstitutional and void from the beginning.

Apart from Das, Petronas was also represented by lawyers Khoo Guan Huat, Azian Abd Aziz, Grace Teoh, Ahmad Faiz Razali, Khoo Yuan Ping and Alex Ngu.

The Sarawak government was represented by senior state counsel Adzrul Adzlan, Sarawak counsel Richard Tie and Felicity Sharmela Thomas, while senior federal counsel Ahmad Hanir Hambaly @ Arwi and federal counsel Imtiyaz Wizni Aufa Othman represented the federal government.

Adzrul told reporters that the state wants the preliminary issue regarding the Sarawak (Alteration of Boundaries) Order in Council 1954 to be heard as the state contends that the matter does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Court.

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