Mahathir Is Demonstrating His Ignorance Regarding The Federation

Of course, the federal government can always rescind the Federation Agreement and kick Kelantan out of Malaysia. Then Kelantan can collect its own taxes and will not need any federal aid, grants or loans. Kelantan will also be able to keep 100% of its oil and gas revenue instead of 100% of the revenue going to Petronas while Kelantan receives zero royalty.

NO HOLDS BARRED 

Raja Petra Kamarudin

(Free Malaysia Today) – Saying Kelantan produces efficient people and good businessmen, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad wonders why they prefer to work and do business in other states, and even Singapore, rather than in their own state.

“Perhaps there is something amiss with the environment; let’s study that environment together and find out why this is the case,” he said when speaking at a question and answer session at the Congress on the Future of The Bumiputera and Nation 2018. 

Mahathir said many Kelantanese businessmen and workers were doing well but questioned why they couldn’t do the same in the east coast state. 

He noted that the Kelantan government could not afford to run the state as it didn’t collect enough revenue from taxes and needed to be supported by Putrajaya. 

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Mahathir refuses to pay Kelantan any oil royalty and then mocks them for having no money

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad did the same thing soon after the 1990 general election when Kelantan fell to the PAS-Semangat 46 coalition. He stopped all aid to Kelantan and even cancelled the RM80 million loan that had been approved earlier to upgrade Kelantan’s water supply.

Mahathir then mocked Kelantan and said the PAS-Semangat 46 state government cannot even supply clean water to its people and Kelantan has the highest cholera cases in Malaysia. Mahathir also said in Kelantan you do not get water when you open your taps because you get teh tarik coming out of your pipes.

To Mahathir, the high number of cholera deaths in Kelantan is something to laugh about and it is all because Kelantan is not ruled by Umno. So, if the Kelantanese want clean water, Mahathir said, then vote Umno into power.

Kelantanese are the most industrious of all the Malays compared to the Malays of Terengganu, Penang, Kedah, Perak, Selangor and so on

That was about 28 years ago and until today the Kelantanese have still not voted Umno (or even PPBM-Pakatan Harapan for that matter) into power.

Today, Mahathir, again, mocked Kelantan. He said there must be something wrong with the environment in Kelantan if the people would rather work outside the state and even as far away as in Singapore. He also said Kelantan cannot afford to run the state unless it gets money from the federal government because it cannot collect enough taxes.

Is Mahathir trying to be funny or is he really that ignorant?

First of all, Kelantan was under Barisan Nasional from 1973 to 1977. Then it was under Barisan Nasional again from 1978 to 1990. So, that was 16 years in total since Merdeka that Kelantan was under the federal government. However, in those 16 years, Kelantanese still went all over the world to work. In fact, there was even a Kampung Kelantan in Singapore.

The joke in Kelantan is that Kelantanese travel as far away as to America to work and a Kelantanese, Nik Sen, even became one of the US presidents

The joke in Kelantan is that one United States President was Kelantanese: Nik Sen. Another was a champion racer: Nik Lauda. Yet many more were champion golfers: Nik Faldo, Nik Dougherty, Nik Price and Nik Taylor.

I am not sure whether any of them were related to the late Nik Aziz but Nik Aziz himself was related to Thai royalty (southern Thailand once had its own royal family in Singora, established since 1605, and now called Songkhla).

So, even when Kelantan was under Umno or Barisan Nasional it was no different. The Kelantanese still travelled all over the world to work. Hence this has nothing to do with PAS or with the fact that Kelantan is not under the federal government. It is merely the Kelantanese thing to do: to travel all over the world to cari rezeki.

Furthermore, every state in Malaysia depends on the federal government for money. That is what federalisation is all about. So, this is not just about Kelantan. It is about every state in Malaysia.

Under the Federation Agreement, the federal government takes over the job of tax collection and every state, not just Kelantan, receives federal aid, grants and loans in return

The first Menteri Besar in Kelantan was Long Abdul Ghafar who took office in 1775. From 1775 to Merdeka in 1957, Kelantan had twelve Menteri Besar in total. The Merdeka Menteri Besar was Tengku Muhammad Hamzah Raja Muda Long Zainal Abidin.

From 1775 to 1957, Kelantan was an independent and self-sufficient state and did not need federal government money. In fact, there was no federal government in those almost 200 years. When the Federation of Malaya was formed and Kelantan became part of the Federation, the state no longer collected its own taxes. Taxes were collected by the federal government while the federal government gave the state aid, grants, loans, etc.

Therefore, it is the duty of the federal government to financially support the state once it joins the Federation and surrenders its right to collect taxes. That is part of the Federation Agreement. So what is Mahathir bitching about? Is he trying to mislead Malaysians or is Mahathir not aware of this? Surely a Prime Minister would know of the federal-state arrangement and the Federation Agreement.

Mahathir should kick Kelantan out of Malaysia and let them survive on their own without federal government aid since he has been complaining about it for 28 years since 1990

Of course, the federal government can always rescind the Federation Agreement and kick Kelantan out of Malaysia. Then Kelantan can collect its own taxes and will not need any federal aid, grants or loans. Kelantan will also be able to keep 100% of its oil and gas revenue instead of 100% of the revenue going to Petronas while Kelantan receives zero royalty.

Instead of complaining that Kelantan cannot survive without the federal government, just kick Kelantan out of Malaysia and let them survive on their own. The federal government can even come out with a ruling banning Kelantanese from working in the other states in Malaysia.

Actually, it is not only the Kelantanese who travel to work. People from all the other states migrate to the big towns and cities as well. Even people from Mahathir’s home state of Kedah migrate to places like Penang, Perak, Selangor, etc., looking for work. The way Mahathir is talking it is as if this is done by only the Kelantanese.

Mahathir really needs to have his head examined. He is talking so much nonsense nowadays it makes you wonder if he is playing with a full deck of cards. As a Prime Minister, Mahathir is expected to know all this.

And what the hell is the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP) doing? Are they advising Mahathir or not? Mahathir does not seem to know anything so the CEP must be sleeping. Or is the CEP as dumb as Mahathir is? With people like Robert Kuok in the CEP, I am not surprised that Mahathir banyak cakap bodoh. Robert Kuok tu pun bukanlah hebat sangat!