Federal Court rejects Sabah NGO’s bid to join Sarawak’s O&G suit

The Federal Court has dismissed a request by the Sabah NGO SABAR to join Sarawak's legal challenge against the federal government and Petronas regarding the constitutionality of oil and gas laws. In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel led by Justice Nordin Hassan stated that SABAR lacked any legal interest in the matter. The NGO had argued that its lawsuit against the federal government in Kota Kinabalu would be impacted by the court's ruling in Sarawak's constitutional challenge.

However, the court ruled that SABAR's involvement was not relevant to the case. The judges acknowledged that SABAR had not represented the Sabah government and noted that the High Court had yet to hear SABAR's lawsuit. Sarawak's petition seeks a declaration that certain oil and gas laws are unconstitutional and seeks damages for the state's alleged deprivation of its natural resource rights.

Petronas also challenged the state's oil and gas ordinances, a matter yet to be heard. SABAR's legal representative was Roland Cheng, while the federal government, Petronas, and Sarawak were represented by Ahmad Hanir Hambaly, Cyrus Das, and JC Fong, respectively.