Monday, February 22, 2010

Of MM : Royalty or wang ehsan...pass the buck to the people's govt



Why not go for it, Mustapa and Rais? Afterall, the judiciary has declared Zambry is the legal MB of Perak and the judge has already dismiss Anwar's appeal to set aside the sodomy charges. One more act to deny Kelantan and Terengganu from their rightful claim of cash payment (or compassionate funds or oil royalty) is nothing to BN. where everything can do...

MM? Yes, this time we will talk about MM. Not the M&M that will melt in your mouth and not in your hands. Not the other MM who hails from Kedah but this MM is from the east coast and used to be Idris Jusoh's boss years ago...nope, it's not Mickey Mouse, either :). This MM is Mustapa Mohamed.

TV3 news on 20th Feb 2010 cover the NGO-sponsored talks on Kelantan's oil royalty with Mustapa Mohamed and Ibrahim Ali as their guest speakers. Mustapa pledged that the government will reveal the truth by publishing in MSM the next day why Kelantan do not qualify for oil royalty. And true to form, most Malay newspapers carry out a full-page ad on the issue which summarily mentioned :-

  1. The oil and gas are extracted from waters beyond the three nautical miles limit prescribed as territorial waters under Malaysia's emergency ordinance 1969;
  2. Anything extracted beyond the three nautical mile limit belongs to the federal government;
  3. Kelantan or any other states in peninsular Malaysia are not entitled to the royalty money as the oil and gas wells are found beyond the three nautical mile limit;
  4. Oil royalty payments to Sabah and Sarawak was due to agreements made prior to 1974 and through continental shelf act 1966;
  5. Sabah and Sarawak joined Malaysia in 1963;
  6. The term oil royalty does not appear on Petroleum development act, what appear is cash payment;
  7. The aid is given based on federal government's care towards awareness and responsibility;
  8. The federal government is offering RM20M compassionate payment due to gas being extracted in Malaysia-Thailand joint development area;
  9. The Government argued that Tg Razaleigh's views are his own personal view and not facts of the matter under relevant laws;
How convenient! Mustapa Mohamed use the stage to dismiss Kelantan's claim and Rais "I burnt the bridge" Yatim follow through with full-page ads in Malay newspapers. Zaid Ibrahim has something to say to Mustapa Mohamed here.

I will let Rais "bridge burner" fight it out with Zaid Ibrahim on legal turf. Let's look into the ad. I say :-
  1. What happens prior to 1969? What is the limit of territorial waters for Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang and the rest in Peninsular Malaysia? What is the limit of territorial waters for Sabah and Sarawak? What if the territorial waters overlap with federal government?;
  2. If anything extracted beyond the three nautical mile belongs to Federal government, then why is the federal government disbursing Terengganu with oil royalty, wang ehsan, cash payment? On what grounds is Terengganu eligible for the monies?;
  3. If the oil and gas wells are not in Terengganu waters, why is Terengganu called "Kuwait of the east"?;
  4. If Terengganu and now Kelantan is given the "compassionate fund" as aid out of federal government's care towards awareness and responsibility, why isn't the same given to other "poor" states like Perlis, Kedah and for that matter Pahang?;
  5. If Kelantan is offered with RM 20M compassionate payment due to gas extracted in Malaysia-Thailand joint development area, why is Terengganu granted more fund when Terengganu is not within the joint development area?;
  6. If Tg Razaleigh's views are his own personal view, why didn't BN rope Tg Razaleigh in and de-brief him on the actual fact? Isn't Tg Razaleigh one of the person responsibile to draft the Petroleum development act? Isn't he one of the signatories?;
  7. Is the federal government claiming that Tg Razaleigh has erred in his judgement? Is the federal government admitting that Tg Razaleigh might be senile to the extent that he no longer knows and understand the spirit of Petroleum development act which he signed in 1970's?
  8. What is the spirit of the Petroleum development act? Is it to compensate the states for oil and gas wells? And if it is cash payment, is Terengganu paid in cash for the oil and gas wells?;
  9. Ibrahim Ali was quoted to challenge the PAS-led Kelantan government to sue the federal government regarding the oil royalty issue. May I add that PAS-led Terengganu state government had previously sued the federal government for withdrawing the oil royalty payment but the suit was later retracted when BN reclaimed Terengganu back from PAS;
  10. Why was the Terengganu state government suit retracted by BN-led administration of Idris Jusoh? Why couldn't Idris and the federal government let the court decides on the actual legal standing on oil royalty, compassionate funds, cash payment? Is there something there which BN wanted to stay hidden?;
  11. If the compassionate fund is for the well being of Kelantan people, why is the federal government entrusted to disburse the money? Why couldn't the federal government disburse the money to Kelantan state and monitor the spending? Is it meant for Kelantan BN's political funds?
The more I read it, the more I feel sorry for both Mustapa Mohamed and Rais "I burnt the bridge" Yatim. Both are pawns to the ruling party. Mustapa Mohamed is a thoroughbred Kelantanese and to stay relevant, he has to cross swords with Nik Aziz and Tg Razaleigh. Mustapa Mohamed has to do so because Annuar Musa is still lurking in the backgrounds, waiting to plunge the "kapak kecil" and ends Mustapa's political life in Kelantan. For that, Mustapa has to turn to Ibrahim Ali but Ibrahim Ali himself is self-suffocating in Pasir Mas due to his Perkasa stand. As my neighbour said it, Ibrahim Ali needs UMNO more in GE13 so that he can stand and defend his MP'ship. But will UMNO let Ibrahim Ali stands as an independent with UMNO's blessings? What will happen to all those hard-working Pasir Mas UMNO members? Will they be sacrificed to make way for Ibrahim Ali?

Rais"I burnt the bridge" Yatim has proven again that he will do whatever it takes to please the boss. First, he use our money to splash the full-page ad. Why Malay newspapers? Why on Sunday? Didn't Rais realised that MSM has been taking a beating from alternative news long time ago? The only reason I purchased sunday papers is for its cartoons...Is it worth the money? Is it meant to educate Kelantanese or meant as another propaganda tools for the masses? Rais is willing to forego his old boss (Tg Razaleigh) just to prove that he is an obedient pet. Do Rais thinks that by being obedient, he will be rewarded? Does Rais thinks that the full-page ad can put KJ at bay?

Call it what you want - compassionate fund, royalty money, cash payment, I don't care. I am still waiting for Petronas's clarification on the matter. Muhyiddin has promised that Petronas will respond to Kelantan's oil royalty claim during Kelantan by-election. Up to now, Petronas, with the new CEO's appointment, has not responded. Is Petronas, by being silent, admitting that Kelantan deserve the cash payment? Let us not kid ourselves much longer. If Federal government is damn sure that Kelantan (and for that matter Terengganu) do not deserve the oil royalty money (cash payment), then why not the federal government initiate a suit in court to declare that statement? Is it too difficult to do? I am sure Rais "I burnt the bridge" will lap to this opportunity so that he can be finally seen as a hero to his political masters - and Mustapa Mohamed will be more than willing to shed his Kelantan dialect (and customs) so that he can jointly agree to declare that Kelantan do not deserved any funds from the gas and oil wells.

Why not go for it, Mustapa and Rais? Afterall, the judiciary has declared Zambry is the legal MB of Perak and the judge has already dismiss Anwar's appeal to set aside the sodomy charges. One more act to deny Kelantan and Terengganu from their rightful claim of cash payment (or compassionate funds or oil royalty) is nothing to BN. where everything can do...


Till then...G'nite M'sia...wherever u are...

4 comments:

ahoo said...

My take is that the timing is just not right ? Why ? Well, the govt itself is struggling to fends off so many unwanted international attention as well as to maintain an XXXL size pension payout monthly.

Funds are hard to come by with the current financial crisis and with Petronas overall income dippng, taxes will also be lesser. Other GLCs' are also not performing too well. With Tengku and Kelantan people breathing down their necks, the govt needs the MSMs' to continue with some spins hoping to catch some people who are less informed in their nets.

We may fool some people, sometimes but certainly not all the people all the time. To me it is better to pay them ( Kelantanese ) for the benefit of the poor masses rather than splashe it on FI with Lotus. The Lotus thingy can come later when we have more funds. To rob the poor of their rightful monies is an unpardonable sin.

nightcaller said...

Ahoo

Rumours of depleting funds has been making its rounds with ministry education cutting back on allocations to schools. AS a direct result, schools has to pay their bills from their own resources prompting some schools heads to issue instructions that fans shall nto be turned on before 10 am. The victims are our own future generation, no comfort in classes during their lessons.

Another is about abolishment of COLA and allowances but this has been denied by the federal government (although the circulars were sidned and distributed to the states).

I say that the federal government has to honour their dues to the states (including paying cash payment to Kelantan). If there is a need to cutback, then start with the ministers and official functions. As an example, why do the federal govt needs to do overlapping thaipusm and CNY open house do at separate venues and time with the strate govt? Couldn't they be matured enough to sit down and jointly orgaise the events at , say 80:20 spending? This way the spending and logistics can be greatly reduced.

As for F1 lotus team, it should not be burdening the government if we were to believe the statement on lotus F1 launching whereby Najib declared that the team will be managed and run by private funds. Unless, what Najib said and what actually transpired runs contrary with each other.

Another is about the juara rakyat thing. If the government is short on funds, is there the need to launch juara rakyat-do in every constituents as a mean for BN to woo support from the rakyat? This cost money and most of all, someone along the line pocketed money from this exercise. It may seem small savings here but remember that "sikit-sikit lama-lama jadi bukit". All these little savings will accumulate to big monies.

Najib has been proud to state in Sarawak that we are getting out of the recession without getting into details. He may use figures but where is the BNM's 2009 Q4 financial report? That will put our financial standing and strength in better light.

ahoo said...

Be fearful when top politician's is saying that all is well. As you'd said, please support it with facts. We cannot take it in line-hook and sinker.

Sarawak will be having their state elction soon as the 1MPM6 is doing his rounds. It saddens me to know that so many places in the rural areas are still WITHOUT basic amenities. We claimed to have the world's tallest building at onetime and also proud of our NS Highway etc. but can't even make plan to ensure that all our citizens are treated with dignity.

Billions can be flushed down the drain by way of plundering or wastages but pipe water and electricity are dreams for some folks even after 50 year of bn rule. I think those ministers are just warming the pew and throwing crumbs to their people come every election day.

To be fooled once is despicable. Twice is just unthinkable. Thrice is just plain stupidity and not thinking at all. I guess some people is being kept that way in the rural areas as bn vote bank. To ensure that the battle is half-won with support from these people.

Have a great day !

nightcaller said...

Ahoo

Sarawak state government has lots of explaination to do...especially when Sarawak received RM 4.8B as cash payment for period between 2004 to 2007.

With that amount of money, Sarawak could not pass the buck totally to federal government. What has the state govt ie Taib mahmud been doing and what is he spending on?

If Taib Mahmud could not spend the money wisely to upgrade the living standards of Sarawakians and to bring basic amenities to their homes, then Taib Mahmud should be paving his way for non-BN govt to take over Sarawak in this coming state election....

And we are not talking about GST yet (which will be covered partially in my upcoming posting to be released tonight)....