SANDAKAN: Donations as small as RM1.50 are helping Sabah Action Body Advocating Rights (Sabar) fund its continental shelf legal challenge, but the organisation remains about RM370,000 short of its target ahead of its next High Court session on Dec 1.
Chairman Datuk Zainie Aucasa said Sabar had collected about RM130,000 of the RM500,000 needed to support the case, with contributions also coming from Peninsular Malaysia.
“We even received as low as RM1.50 donation,” he said.
The organisation is seeking funds to engage specialist expertise to respond to the Federal Government’s expert evidence in the proceedings.
Zainie said time was running out to secure the funds and hoped participants at its Sandakan gathering would help spread awareness of the case and encourage contributions from the wider community.
The tea talk at Up Case Cafe, Saturday, was the first of its kind by Sabar outside Kota Kinabalu. It planned to hold a similar gathering in Tawau next to explain the claim and seek financial support.
Addressing participants, lawyer Roland Cheng stressed that a court ruling was needed to resolve the dispute over Sabah’s offshore rights, as public assertions of ownership alone would not change the existing legal position.
“Even though the law is wrong, or you claim it is wrong, it does not become wrong until the court makes a decision,” he said.
Cheng explained that petroleum companies relied on the laws currently in force to determine which authorities controlled offshore resources and could authorise their development.
“You can challenge, you can shout, you can say whatever you want,” he said, emphasising that objections alone would not displace the existing legal framework.
Sabar filed its originating summons at the Kota Kinabalu High Court in September 2023, naming the Government of Malaysia as the sole defendant.
Its claim relies in part on the North Borneo (Alteration of Boundaries) Order in Council 1954, which extended North Borneo’s boundaries to include its continental shelf before the formation of Malaysia.
Sabar contends that Sabah retained those territorial rights and is seeking a declaration that its territory continues to include the continental shelf under that order.
Cheng said the scale of the claim was substantial, referring participants to a map during his presentation.
“If you look at the area of it, it’s bigger than the land area of Sabah,” he said.
He said the stakes extended beyond oil and gas, highlighting potential opportunities for ocean thermal energy conversion and offshore wind power that could generate revenue and employment.
Explaining the legal background, Cheng highlighted Section 3 of the Continental Shelf Act 1966, which vests rights over exploration of the continental shelf and exploitation of its natural resources in Malaysia, exercisable by the Federal Government.
The Act and the Petroleum Mining Act 1966 were extended to Sabah and Sarawak through emergency legislation in 1969.
Sabar challenges their continued application in Sabah following the end of the emergency framework, seeking a declaration that they are invalid or inapplicable in the state after June 19, 2012.
Cheng referred to Article 150(7) of the Federal Constitution, which concerns the expiry of emergency ordinances and laws dependent on emergency powers, in explaining that argument.
The organisation also challenges Section 3(3) of the Territorial Sea Act 2012, which applies a three-nautical-mile limit for the purposes of specified laws concerning land, petroleum mining and the continental shelf.
This is distinct from the 12-nautical-mile territorial sea prescribed for Malaysia under the same Act.
Sabar is also seeking a court declaration that Sabah’s territorial waters include 12 nautical miles, separately from its claim that the continental shelf forms part of the State’s territory.
The declarations sought remain matters for the courts to determine. Sabar has also applied to refer constitutional questions arising from the case to the Federal Court.
Among those present at the Sandakan gathering were Tanjong Papat Assemblyman Alex Thien, Sungai Sibuga Assemblyman Lisa Hassan Alban and former Tanjong Papat Assemblyman Datuk Frankie Poon Ming Fung.