Tuesday November 10, 2009
Govt has to pay royalty to Kelantan, says Husam
A KELANTAN state executive councillor said the Federal Government was obliged to pay cash to petroleum producing states and not just in the form of a compassionate fund (wang ehsan).
Datuk Husam Musa said this was according to Clause 4 of the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1975.
Husam, a PAS vice-president, said the Federal Government’s claim that it was legally bound to pay royalty only for oil extracted within three nautical miles of its shores was incorrect.
“This has no reference to any Malaysian or international law. The PDA gives the rights to petroleum to state governments, which are then given to Petronas in exchange for cash payments,” he told a press conference at the Parliament lobby yesterday.
Last week, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced the compassionate fund in the form of development programmes for Kelantan.
Husam, the Kelantan state economic planning chairman, said that RM6.3bil in oil royalty was being paid to Terengganu, Sarawak and Sabah but not to Kelantan.
The oil royalty issue also saw several opposition MPs turning on Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, who is in charge of the Economic Planning Unit in the House.
Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia ended up mediating for both sides with Nor Mohamed promising that he would reply the MP’s questions at committee stage.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said of the 18,916 Chinese and 29,800 Indian applicants, the Public Service Commission (PSC) had recruited 1,841 and 1,593 respectively.
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