Kelantan oil royalty: Wanted, 14 brave Kelantanese to contest as MPs

By admin-s On Dec 15, 2021

I told the group of bright Kelantanese that it does not matter which political party they belong to or if they are non-political. What is important is that they agree to the singular demand that the oil royalty be given to the states, irrespective of which party forms the government. Oil should never again be used to blackmail the people of Kelantan in making their political decisions.

Zaid Ibrahim, Focus Malaysia

I WAS in Kajang, Selangor a few days ago pitching for Kelantan. I had only one mission; to urge a group of well-qualified Kelantanese academicians and businessmen to take up the cudgels and stand as parliamentary candidates in the 15th General Election in their home state.

They will campaign on just one issue; for the next prime minister to pay back the RM20 bil owed to Kelantan and from then on, pay 5% oil royalty to the state every year.

Otherwise, the Kelantanese bloc will dislodge the premier. If Sarawak can pull the prime minister down with 18 MP seats held by Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), we in Kelantan can do the same with our 14 lawmakers.

I reminded them that poverty in the Malay heartlands of Kelantan and Terengganu would be beyond the capacity of any Government to resolve without oil money. It will be a generational problem that we will not be able to overcome unless the oil money due to these two states is paid.

The campaign to get back the oil royalty is not a legal problem; it is a political one. It will gain traction because the people will understand the issues at stake if we explain to them. The people will support the claim if we can explain to them how they have been fed lies over the years. Lies about territorial waters – about maritime boundaries between Kelantan and Terengganu. Lies on why the gas pipeline from the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area had to be piped through to Narathiwat, Thailand, and not to Kota Bharu, Kelantan.

We will also explain that their PAS leaders are useless, much like their ministers. What have UMNO and PAS leaders done in the last 30 years they have been in power to get the oil royalty that is ours? Nothing! These politicians are never known to fight for people’s welfare.