Published: Wednesday November 25, 2009 MYT 1:52:00 PM
Parliament: Muhyiddin leaves Razaleigh to decide on oil royalty issue
By LEE YUK PENG
KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin leaves it to Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah to decide on whether to lead a parliamentary caucus to draft a Bill on royalty payment to oil producing states.
“Ku Li (referring to Tengku Razaleigh) is a veteran MP in the party and knows what decision to make, more so the invitation comes from the Opposition and it involves Kelantan.
“I leave it to him to decide,” said Muhyiddin, who is also the whip of Barisan Nasional MPs.
He said this when asked to comment on Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim claiming that Razaleigh, the Petronas founding chairman, had accepted the offer to lead a parliamentary caucus to draft a private member’s bill on royalty payments to oil producing states.
It, was, however, also reported that Razaleigh had neither accepted nor declined the invitation but was considering the offer.
When asked whether Barisan MPs can join the parliamentary caucus, Muhyiddin said they should not join as there were several principles to abide by.
“Barisan MPs are bound by certain principles. They also have direct access to ministry for information,’’ he said.
Anwar was reported saying that he would also write to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, who is in charge of parliamentary affairs, to invite Barisan MPs into the caucus.
Razaleigh was earlier reported as saying that all oil producing states, including Kelantan, had a constitutional right to oil royalty.
However, Nazri had insisted that Kelantan had no right to ask for royalty as no petroleum was produced in the states waters within three nautical miles off the coastline.
The Federal Government has allocated a goodwill payout to Kelantan but the Opposition objected to this, saying the payment was a right.
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