Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's only wrong towards Sarawakians is to support Dr Mahathir Mohamad as premier for 22 years, according to a pro-Umno portal.

Whereas, it added that his father and second prime minister Abdul Razak's only wrong towards the East Malaysian state is to will (mewasiatkan) to his successor Hussein Onn to name Mahathir as deputy prime minister.

According to MyKMU.net, if Najib had supported Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah instead of Mahathir during the Umno crisis, perhaps the situation in Sarawak would be far better.

In 1987, when Tengku Razaleigh (photo), who is better known as Ku Li, challenged Mahathir for the Umno presidency, Najib had thrown his weight behind the latter.

“Yes! The mistake of Abdul Razak and Najib towards Sarawak is to support Mahathir resulting in Sarawak being neglected for 22 years.

“Now, Najib is fixing this,” said the portal.

The portal was responding to Mahathir's remarks during a speech in Kuching, Sarawak, over the weekend.

Among others, the former premier claimed that it was Abdul Razak, and not him, who passed the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974.

"I had been accused. (But) I was not the prime minister then.

"The prime minister who passed the PDA was Abdul Razak, (prime minister) Najib Razak's father," he had said.

The PDA vested all exploration and exploitation of petroleum – onshore or offshore – to Petronas even though the rights to mining had been given to the state under the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

In his speech, Mahathir also claimed that the erosion of Sarawak's rights continued under Najib in the form of the Territorial Sea Act 2012.

"When was the law made? It was done in 2012. The prime minister in 2012 was Najib," he said.

The Territorial Sea Act 2012 clearly defined the breadth of the territorial sea of Malaysia as being 12 nautical miles from the baseline, in line with international law.

Commenting on the PDA, MYKMU said back in 1974, and even at present, it is economically unviable for a country the size of Malaysia to have several petroleum firms.

“Actually, the PDA is not wrong. It only became a subject of dispute when Mahathir, for 22 years, used Petronas funds for Putrajaya, KLCC, F1 and numerous mega projects and to rescue his son's firm without caring about the development in Sabah and Sarawak.

“For 22 years, Mahathir only looked at Sabah and Sarawak with one eye... Knowing Mahathir, he would give 1,001 excuses in the future to save himself from the promises made today,” it added.

As for the Territorial Sea Act 2012, MyKMU said the amendments have nothing to do with Sarawak being left behind in terms of development.

“It merely follows international standards and allows the government to better manage territorial disputes,” it added.