Sabah Stands with Sarawak on Land and Continental Shelf Rights, Says Jeffrey Kitingan

30 December 2025

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (STAR Sabah) President Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Jeffrey G. Kitingan has declared that Sabah fully stands with Sarawak in asserting that a Borneo state’s rights over its land, seabed, subsoil and continental shelf are non-negotiable and grounded in law.

In a press statement, Dr Jeffrey said STAR “fully endorses the recent statement by the Premier of Sarawak”, stressing that these rights are derived from the immutable terms under which Malaysia was formed.

“For Sabah, this is the fundamental basis of our sovereignty within the Federation and not merely a theoretical legal argument,” he said. “These rights were the conditions upon which Sabah agreed to form Malaysia. They were neither gifts from the Federal Government nor temporary concessions. They are permanent, constitutional entitlements that no Act of Parliament can unilaterally erase.”

Dr Jeffrey said Sabah’s position rests on the same constitutional foundation as Sarawak, citing the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report and the Federal Constitution, all of which, he said, recognise Sabah as a partner with absolute ownership over its territory.

“These rights existed prior to Malaysia Day,” he said. “There has never been a public referendum or a resolution by the State Legislative Assembly consenting to their surrender.”

He said the public must understand what he described as a suppressed historical record, noting that before the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974, Sabah exercised full authority over its oil and gas resources.

“In 1969, the Sabah Government entered into agreements directly with international companies for the exploration, winning, production, extraction and sale of petroleum,” he said. “We set the royalties at 12.5 per cent. We did not ask for Federal permission because we were, and by right, still are, the owners pursuant to Section 24 of the Sabah Land Ordinance and the State List in the Federal Constitution.”

Dr Jeffrey argued that the PDA 1974 was passed without the backing of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly and could not amend the Federal Constitution.

“The Federal Government has long propagated the fiction that the PDA transferred ownership of Sabah’s oil and gas to Petronas,” he said. “This is a deception that continues to this day.”

He further cited Article 2 of the Federal Constitution, which requires state consent for any alteration of state boundaries.

“By seizing control of our seabed and subsoil, the Federal Government effectively altered our boundaries without our consent,” he said. “This renders the application of the PDA to Sabah’s territory unconstitutional and invalid.”

Dr Jeffrey said the acceptance of the federal narrative had led to severe consequences, pointing to the 1976 agreement that reduced Sabah’s oil royalty to five per cent.

“While Petronas and the Federal Government reaped hundreds of billions from our soil, Sabah received a pittance,” he said. “We traded our birthright for crumbs.”

According to him, this inequity is a key reason Sabah remains among the poorest states in Malaysia despite its natural wealth.

“Our wealth funded the development of Malaya while our own infrastructure, roads, schools and hospitals, crumbled,” he said. “This was not an accident of economics but the result of the systematic erosion of our constitutional rights.”

Dr Jeffrey stressed that territorial integrity and revenue rights are inseparable, adding that Sabah and Sarawak share a common destiny as the “Borneo Bloc”.

“When Sarawak speaks on these matters, Sabah must do more than nod. We must stand shoulder to shoulder,” he said. “Coordination between our states is not a provocation but a duty to our people and a necessary check on federal overreach.”

He urged the Federal Government to stop relying on the PDA 1974 as justification, warning that a federation can only endure through trust and adherence to its founding documents.

“Continued denial of these rights is a betrayal of the Malaysia concept,” he said. “Sabahans must educate themselves on these facts. Awareness is the precursor to change.”

Dr Jeffrey concluded by saying Sabah was not seeking to undermine the Federation, but to preserve it.

“We do not seek to threaten the Federation, but to save it,” he said. “We insist that Malaysia functions as a partnership of equals, not the colonial master–subject arrangement the Federal Government seems to prefer.”