Harris says he signed oil royalty agreement following AG’s advice

KOTA KINABALU: Former Chief Minister Tan Sri Harris Salleh informed the High Court here yesterday that he had signed the five per cent oil royalty agreement between the State government and Petronas after he was sworn in as the Chief Minister following the death of his predecessor and following the advice of the then state Attorney-General that the agreement was proper.

He said that as far as he could remember, the agreement was signed on the evening of June 6, 1976 or the next day. Harris however said he was not sure whether or not the five per cent oil royalty was already fixed by statute.

Harris, 81, was testifying before Justice Dato’ Abdul Rahman Sebli in the hearing of the former’s RM50 million suit against Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee and the party, for allegedly insinuating that he (Harris) was involved in causing the plane crash that killed his predecessor, Tun Fuad Stephens and all 10 others on board a Nomad aircraft on June 6, 1976.

Harris filed the suit on June 6, last year, claiming general damages, aggravated and exemplary damages of not less than RM50 million to be assessed separately against Yong and SAPP as the first and second defendants respectively.

He also sought an injunction to restrain the defendants whether by themselves or their servants or employees or agents from printing and publishing further the statements and similar libel in any form or means.

Harris was represented by counsels Yunof Maringking and Trevor Maringking while Yong and SAPP were represented by counsels Datuk Simon Shim and Flora Dius.

To a question posed by Shim during cross-examination on whether or not he did bother to find out the legal position pertaining to the agreement, Harris responded, “We were advised by the then State Attorney General (AG) that the agreement was proper.”

He added that the oil was discovered in the Malaysian territory and was not under the control of the state.

“Therefore since Sarawak had signed, we the cabinet, at that time the Chief Minister (CM) was still the late Tun Fuad, agreed to the five per cent.” he said.

To a suggestion by Shim that Harris had actually signed the agreement on June 16, 1976, a few days after he became the Sabah Chief Minister, the latter said, “If that is the record that’s the date.”

However, he said as far as he could remember, he signed the agreement on the day he assumed the position of Chief Minister when he was asked to be sworn in on the evening of June 6, 1976.

Shim questioned why he had signed the oil royalty agreement although the state was still in mourning, Harris said it was because of two separate issues, namely the security situation and the other was to obtain the five per cent from Petronas for Sabah.

When further asked why he did not wait until after the 30 days of state mourning was over and to refer the matter to the State Legislative Assembly for approval before signing the agreement, Harris said, “We were not rushing then but all of us the remaining cabinet ministers agreed that we should sign the agreement.”

He pointed out that they were further advised by the State AG to accept Petronas’ offer of five per cent as they were told that the area where the oil was found was not within the state’s jurisdiction.

Harris expressed disagreement to Shim’s suggestion that if the former did not sign the oil royalty agreement then the state was not bound to accept a mere five per cent royalty.

He also informed the court that he was not sure whose decision was it to give Sabah five per cent oil royalty.

He said it could have either been the Parliament or the Federal Cabinet.

“As far as I know the decision of the Parliament was to pass the Petroleum Act. Now I add here, Parliament was and still is represented by Sarawakian and Sabahan members of parliament,” Harris said.

Harris disagreed with Shim’s suggestion that since the Chief Minister of Sarawak had agreed to sign, the former was also bound to sign the oil royalty agreement.

He said the Sarawak government did not sign the agreement blindly and that he had had a good discussion with Tengku Razaleigh in Labuan.

When Shim suggested to Harris that the latter was over sensitive with Yong and his statement, Harris said, “It is not the question of being sensitive. I am just responding to humiliating accusations made against me.”

When further asked by Shim on whether Harris could recall that his libel suit against Yong was thrown out by the High Court, to which Harris said, “I was not briefed by my counsel, I will check with him.”

Harris also said that he could not remember that the High Court had awarded costs to Yong against him and said that he needed to check the matter with his counsel.

However, Harris disagreed with Shim’s suggestion that there was no malice held against him since Yong wanted to forgive and forget the matter by not asking for costs from him.

He pointed out that Yong had made two statements in April 2010, making malicious allegations against him.

The plaintiff closed his case yesterday without calling for any other witness, with the court proceeding to hear the defendants’ opening adress (see separate story).

by Kelimen Sawatan