By J. Ligunjang JP, Former State Assemblyman
KOTA KINABALU: The Territorial Sea Act 2012 (Act 750) is unconstitutional to the extent that it limits Sabah’s territorial sea to 3 nautical miles.
That limitation conflicts with the Order in Council 1954, which recognized and extended the territorial extent of the Colony of North Borneo (Sabah) to the continental shelf and adjacent waters.
A later federal statute that purports to reduce Sabah’s maritime limits to 3 nautical miles therefore creates a direct inconsistency with the earlier instrument and improperly diminishes Sabah’s sovereign maritime entitlements.
Act 750 also exceeds federal competence by effecting a substantive alteration of Sabah’s territorial rights without the requisite state consent.
The power to cede, alter or agree to limits on a state’s territorial boundaries is not a matter for unilateral federal legislation alone.
Altering or ceding the territorial extent of a state is a fundamental act affecting state sovereignty and interests and is not ordinary legislation; it requires the involvement and assent of the State of Sabah through its State Legislative Assembly and the Yang di-Pertua Negeri (Governor), in accordance with the constitutional status and protections afforded to the state.
Accordingly, any diminution of Sabah’s maritime limits effected by Act 750 is constitutionally defective to the extent it purports to do so without Sabah’s consent.
