Terengganu has received its payment on the quiet side. The money is vested in the hands of the local kingpin and Terengganu Menteri Besar, Ahmad Said.
So the inclusion of Terengganu is just window dressing, a ‘sham’.
When Idris Jusoh was MB, the federal government insulted the Terengganu people imputing they don’t know how to manage the oil money by allowing ‘Patrick Lim’ to decide where the money should be applied.
So the federal government conspired with crony capitalists in building the facilities for the Monsoon Cup which did not benefit the Terengganu people.
They built mosques in nowhere places and constructed whatever structures that can absorb the oil money, which ended up in the hands of business cronies.
It’s the same wine in a new bottle.
Ahmad Said now controls the petroleum ringgit and he determines how they are applied. So he decides to build a (almost) RM100 million zoo somewhere in Kemaman.
Why discriminate Kelantan?
Truly, Terengganu typifies what has been described as the curse of oil money.
Oil was discovered in the 1970’s in Terengganu but the state has one of the highest incidence of poverty.
Umno politicians are truly two-faced, shameless liars. Oil has always been a legal issue and the matter of what rightly belongs to people.
It has always been a legal issue concerning the right of a signatory to the Petroleum Development Act (PDA).
The one who has been politicising the issue has been Umno and Barisan Nasional.
Umno is lying to the Malays of Kelantan.
It claims it fights for Malays – so my question is why is Umno discriminating against the Kelantan Malays who form probably 98% of the population in Kelantan?
The distribution of RM500 under BR1M is an insult to the Kelantanese, when they are denied the receipt of oil royalty.
It’s a straightforward case of a legal entitlement. Kelantan is entitled to the 5% royalty without having to bear any other qualifications.
Why Pahang?
Now Pahang, my home state. How did it get into this equation?
How does Pahang qualify as a potential recipient of oil royalty? If the state has oil, why has it been concealed from the rakyat?
Was it because of the rapacious greed of some quarters? Did Tun Razak decide to withhold the bounty from Pahang because he feared the state will be robbed?
If indeed Pahang qualifies as a recipient, the moneys are better committed to a Pahang sovereign fund to prevent irresponsible and profligate applications of the oil money.
I am not confident to vest the money into the hands of legislators who year after year justify Pahang’s deficit spending as a result of the state government spending on poor people.
*** The writer, Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz is a former Umno state assemblyman but joined DAP earlier this year
