KUALA LUMPUR: PAS wants Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) to disclose its total oil production in Kelantan to help the state determine how much royalty it should be given.
The state has cried foul over what it claimed was the failure of the national oil corporation to pay its dues as promised.
PAS secretary-general Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan (pix) pointed out that the state was supposed to receive 5% of the revenue from the oil extracted within its territory as royalty.
“However, we have been given a meagre RM28 million this year as ‘gratuity’,” he told reporters when met at Parliament yesterday.
Takiyuddin said Petronas should reveal how much oil was taken from its wells in Kelantan.
“From that figure, we will be able to tell how much it owes Kelantan, and this amount should be passed on to the state,” he added.
He also took the federal government to task for failing to call the state government to discuss the issue of how much Kelantan was entitled to.
“The RM28 million was only a ‘wang ihsan’ (compassionate fund),” he said.
In response to a statement by Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakib that the sum received from the federal government was not royalty, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng had said that Kelantan had been paid what was due to it.
PAS deputy president Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said based on the party’s estimation, Kelantan was supposed to receive about RM1 billion each year in royalty, which dwarfed the amount that was paid out by the federal government.
“We regret Lim’s statement that the royalty has been paid out. To date, Kelantan has not received any royalty payment. We demand that the federal government fulfil its promise to make the necessary payment,” he said.
