Federal Court to set timetable for Petronas and Sarawak petitions

Justice Rhodzariah Bujang directed Petronas and the Sarawak government to file their respective submissions on the petitions and any preliminary issues by Jan 11, with replies due Jan 18, and set a case-management hearing for Jan 12. She indicated that the panel hearing the cases should determine whether to consider Sarawak's preliminary question about the validity of the 1954 Order in Council on territorial waters first, since the petitions are not consolidated.

Both parties intend to ask the chief justice for an enlarged panel of nine or eleven judges. Sarawak's senior state counsel, Adzrul Adzlan, will lodge a Rule 23 application within 14 days, while Petronas' lawyer, Cyrus Das, argued the preliminary issue could be dealt with during the petition hearing. Federal counsel supporting Petronas also urged that its petition be heard first.