Husam: Why did Cabinet surrender to Brunei?
(Free Malaysia Today) – The controversial surrender of two oil blocks in Limbang to Brunei has taken a new turn with PAS demanding to know why the Cabinet, under former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, had approved the decision.
In posing a series of questions to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, the Kelantan senior executive councillor Husam Musa asked what was the basis of the Cabinet’s acceptance of the decision.
“The prime minister’s administration must give the public an immediate explanation as to why the Cabinet had, on Feb 11, 2009, agreed to relinquish Malaysia’s sovereignty over the area.
“And even after the Cabinet decision and the signing of the agreement with Brunei on March 16, 2009, why weren’t Malaysians told of the government’s decision to surrender the waterways and the oil blocks?” he asked, adding that the two oil blocks were once owned by Petronas.
He said Petronas had already granted concessions to its subsidiary Petronas Carigali and US-based Murphy Oil in 2003.
“The concession was to be enforced in April this year. The agreement had to be cancelled.
“We want to know what compensations, be it in cash or kind, was offered to Murphy Oil,” Husam said.
Malaysians only came to know of the two oil blocks following Murphy Oil’s declaration to the New York Stock Exchange that its concession had been cancelled.
