PAS is trying to stir up the public with seasonal politics by urging the federal government to pay petroleum royalties to Kelantan and Terengganu, said a senior state Pakatan Harapan leader.
Terengganu Harapan chairperson Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad said it was an issue that the Islamist party only brought up selectively.
He reminded PAS that it was the Perikatan Nasional government under former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s leadership that abolished the oil royalty payment, and that PAS was part of his cabinet.
“PAS MP Ahmad Fadhli Shaari’s statement that Terengganu and Kelantan wanted the royalty and not goodwill money (wang ehsan) sounds funny and weird.
“In 2019, the Harapan government under Mahathir’s leadership had already reinstituted the oil royalty but it was stopped again by the PN government itself in 2021.
“In November 2021, PN Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul had announced - ‘the PN government under Muhyiddin’s leadership would not pay for petroleum royalty to any states in the peninsula including Terengganu and Kelantan but will be paying courtesy money for petroleum products obtained on the coast',” said Raja Bahrin (above) in a statement today.
Seized it back
He said it was stranger still that all the ministers and deputy ministers in the PN government during that time did not protest that government’s action.
According to him, after 22 years of the oil royalty being withdrawn in 1999, the Pakatan Harapan government had returned the royalty but the Muhyddin’s PN government seized it back again.
Yesterday, Pasir Mas MP Ahmad Fadhli was reported to be demanding that Putrajaya resume paying petroleum royalties to the government of Kelantan and Terengganu, instead of re-drafting the policy.
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