Najib wants time to study Ku Li’s parliamentary caucus

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal - The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (picture) may have confirmed that he will lead a parliamentary caucus on the Kelantan oil royalty issue, but his party president has yet to agree or to comment on the matter.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak declined to comment on the Gua Musang MP’s recent stand that Kelantan is entitled a five per cent royalty for oil extracted off its waters, saying it was time to “re-examine the relationship between the states and the federal government”.

“We are studying the matter. I have not received any word from Tengku Razaleigh yet. Give us time to get a copy of his speech,” said Najib.

The Gua Musang MP had told a packed Stadium Sultan Mohamed IV in Kelantan last night that national oil firm Petronas was bound by law to give the money to states where oil is found, adding Kelantan was not interested in compassionate payments.

“Kelantan may be poor. But we are not beggars. We demand what is rightfully ours,” the Kelantan prince said to cheers and cries of “Allahu Akbar (God is great)” at last night’s gathering organised by the state government over the oil royalty issue.

However, Najib also stressed that party discipline must be maintained at all times.

“We have to stick to party discipline. We have to obey it in whatever situation we will discuss the matter.”

The PAS government demanded the oil royalty payment from Petronas last year, after the Statistics Department revealed that Kelantan, together with Sabah and Terengganu, had contributed 62.5 per cent of oil extracted in Malaysia.

The Barisan Nasional federal government has insisted that oil from the joint development area with Thailand is not part of Kelantan’s waters and has only offered RM20 million as “compassionate payment”.

But Razaleigh, the founding chairman of Petronas, disagreed with the government’s move, saying the formula for oil royalty was first agreed with Sarawak and later extended to all states.

The move has a precedent in Terengganu after the 1999 general elections, when PAS won the state, prompting the federal government to convert oil royalty payments to “compassionate payments” managed by a federal government department.

Terengganu had sued for its right and Putrajaya relented only after Barisan Nasional recaptured the state.