All the Hoo-ha over the Moolah
By Masterwordsmith
If you are entitled to a first class seat on a flight to your destination but were ushered to a seat in the economy class and then to be told this move was made on compassionate grounds how would you feel? Outrage? In the same vein of thought, there is currently a big hoo-ha over the oil royalty moolah in Kelantan where Kelantanese do not want alms given to beggars but the legal entitlement of their oil royalties amounting to RM1 billion since 2004.
The Malaysian Insider reported:
“We have decided to give goodwill payment to Kelantan. This decision is made considering the need to develop Kelantan in line with the federal development programme,” he told the Dewan Rakyat, adding that the state will be receiving the allocation beginning next year.
But Najib’s statement immediately sparked an uproar, with Kubang Kerian MP Salahuddin Ayub saying the Kelantanese are not expecting goodwill payment but what is rightfully theirs.
“So all this while, Terengganu have been receiving goodwill payment and not royalties? Under Section 144 of the National Petroleum Act, Terengganu is receiving royalty and not courtesy payment, so how is this possible?” blasted Salahuddin.“We are not beggars. We are demanding for what is ours,” the PAS vice-president said.
Najib, visibly annoyed by Salahuddin’s attack gave a smirk and merely replied, “You’re trying to politicise the issue. Tak habis-habis dengan politik (never-ending politics).”
However, the prime minister’s statement contradicts the Statistics Department’s State/District Data Bank which lists Kelantan as one of the four oil and gas producing states. The other three are Sabah, Sarawak and Terengganu.
The federal government has argued that oil and gas extraction activities are located about 150km off Kelantan’s shores and is jointly developed with Thailand, and thus beyond the legal limit of state/national boundaries. Also, the territory is being disputed by Thailand and Malaysia.
At a press conference later, Salahuddin said Najib was deliberately trying to mislead the House with his reply that Kelantan does not have rights to claim for oil royalty.
“Under the Act, it is clearly stated that oil producing states must receive 50 per cent of the revenues and it was clear that Najib lied when he said that Terengganu is receiving goodwill payment and not royalties,” he said.
He added that he will refer the prime minister to the privileges committee for misleading the House.
Some felt that .the payment was related to the possibility of a snap polls being called You can read more about it HERE, HERE, HERE and also at THIS LINK.
The Malaysian Insider also said:
Prior to this, the state government had written officially to the federal government seeking RM1 billion in oil royalty since 2004, based on Statistics Department figures.
Nik Aziz said he would convene a meeting of the state executive council to further discuss the oil royalty demand. The mentri besar was disappointed over Najib’s remarks that, from the legal point of view, Kelantan was not entitled to receive the oil royalty.
Thus it appears that the government has a legal obligation to pay the oil royalties and not 'compassionate payment'.
For Tengku Razaleigh's take on this issue, please CLICK HERE.
Please also read THIS ARTICLE on Sarawak Oil Royalty where you can see that Sarawak is only receiving 5% of oil royalty. What a miserable pittance indeed!
