Kelantan MB meets PM 3 weeks after state reps push for oil royalties

 

Kelantan Menteri Besar Ahmad Yakob had a one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in Putrajaya today.

The meeting comes about three weeks after the Kelantan state legislature approved a motion for Ahmad to continue negotiations with Putrajaya to get oil royalties for the state.

In a Facebook post today, Ahmad (above, right) described the meeting with Anwar (above, left) as a friendly one that gave hope to Kelantan.

“The friendly courtesy visit among others saw discussions on various matters, especially regarding the security and wellbeing of the people.

“The state government is confident that today’s visit will result in benefits for Kelantan, in line with the spirit of federalism for the people’s sake,” the menteri besar said.

However, he did not disclose whether the matter of oil royalties were discussed during the meeting.

Oil royalties from Petronas have been a longstanding demand by Kelantan and Terengganu.

In 2019, the government under then-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad granted a “one-off” RM400 million payment to Kelantan.

The subsequent Muhyiddin Yassin administration then made “good-will” payments of RM200 million to Kelantan in 2020 and 2021 respectively.

However, the practice was discontinued.

In February, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said said Kelantan and Terengganu did not legally qualify for royalty payments.

This is as the Territorial Sea Act 2012 stipulated that states can only claim rights up to three nautical miles.

The Kelantan state assembly, in its motion to continue negotiating for royalties on March 21, rejected ratifying the Territorial Sea Act. - Mkini