Party vice-president Salahuddin Ayub said as Najib had himself witnessed the devastation brought by the worst floods in decades, giving back the state its oil money would be the best way to help victims rebuild their lives.
“As the prime minister, YAB would certainly understand the difficulties victims face in their efforts to rebuild their lives as many had their homes destroyed.
“As such we hope that YAB can return Kelantan the right to oil royalty, which rightfully belongs to the Kelantan government and its people,” Salahuddin, who is also Kubang Kerian MP, told a press conference.
The Kelantan government had recently taken Putrajaya to court in a bid to compel the federal government to pay the five per cent share owed to oil producing states as provided under the Petronas Act.
“We are not begging, this is our right,” Salahuddin commented on the matter.
The federal government, however, argued that Kelantan has no right to the money since royalty can only be paid if oil is extracted within three nautical miles of state shores, which disqualified the opposition-ruled state.
Kelantan has long claimed that the refusal has stalled development, leaving it one of the poorest in the country, relying largely on timber and agriculture for revenue.
Amid uproar over the floods, Barisan Nasional leaders have blamed deforestation caused by illegal logging for the disaster.
PAS information chief Datuk Mahfuz Omar rejected the allegations.
“Logging may be one factor, but we can’t focus on that. There must be a holistic study and efforts to improve.
“Now is not the time to point fingers,” he said.
Kelantan was the first state to be hit by what has been dubbed as “Malaysia’s tsunami”, followed by Terengganu, Pahang, and later, Perak and Johor as heavy rainfall inundated low lying areas.
More of 240,674 people were forced to flee their homes in Terengganu, Kelantan, Pahang, Perak, Johor, Perlis, Selangor and Kedah.
The flood situation has since improved drastically in Kelantan and almost half of the evacuees were allowed to return home this morning.
A spokesman from the state Social Welfare Department said the number of evacuees dropped from 81,458 last night to 44,081 as at 10am today.
He said there were 10,753 families still housed at 178 relief centres in eight districts.
The total number of evacuees in Kelantan, Pahang, Terengganu, Perak and Johor stood at 111,855 this morning.
By Syed Jaymal Zahid
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