Menteri Besar Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar says he was given this assurance by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad at their meeting today.
Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar says details of the oil royalty payment will be discussed at a later point.
PUTRAJAYA: Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar today said the 5% annual oil royalty for the state would be channelled directly to the PAS-led state government.
Speaking to reporters here, he said he had been given this assurance at his meeting with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He said the details of the royalty payment would be discussed later between the state and the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government.
During PAS’ previous rule of Terengganu between 1999 and 2004, the oil royalty was given to the state through federal agencies.
PAS was returned to state power after ousting the Barisan Nasional (BN) government in the May 9 general election.
“Mahathir said the oil royalty will be given directly to the state government,” said Ahmad Samsuri.
“It means that in the future, it will not matter if the state ruling party is different from the one controlling the federal government.”
His comments followed the National Finance Council meeting chaired by Mahathir and attended by Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, Chief Secretary to the Government Ali Hamsa and Auditor-General Madinah Mohamad.
He also thanked the federal government for allocating RM100,000 annually to each opposition parliamentarian.
He said although the amount was much lower than the RM500,000 allocated to PH MPs, it was better than receiving nothing from the previous BN government.
“We appreciate the payment since the opposition was not given any money previously.”
Mahathir announced the MP allocations after the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday.
He also said RM200,000 would be allocated for the MPs’ service centres, but it was unclear if this sum will be extended to opposition lawmakers as well.
The allocations will be given before Hari Raya Aidilfitri. - FMT
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