PAS claims Najib blundered in justifying “goodwill payment”
By Syed Jaymal Zahiid, The Malaysian Insider
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak may have made a blunder when he claimed that Kelantan has no right to ask for royalty given that oil was extracted beyond the state’s waters in Parliament yesterday.
Najib had told Parliament that Kelantan could only demand for royalty if oil was extracted within three nautical miles of its coastline.
But PAS leaders said today that this meant Sabah and Sarawak, where oil is extracted beyond their territorial waters, have not been receiving royalties for its oil but “goodwill payment”, similar to both Kelantan and Terengganu.
“This means that all this while these two states have been receiving goodwill payment for its oil and not royalty despite Petronas’ financial report which clearly states that Sabah and Sarawak have been receiving royalty,” Kuala Krai PAS lawmaker Dr Hatta Ramli told a press conference in Parliament.
“This also means that oil profit is distributed according to the whims and fancy of the federal government and Section 144 of the National Petroleum Act which stipulates that 50 per cent of oil profit be given to oil producing states is obsolete,” he added.
