A Kelantan-based non-governmental organisation set up over the oil royalty tussle decided to give its cause a macabre twist.

Members of the movement, known as "R Kelantan", conducted a mock funeral in Kota Bharu this afternoon.

Clad in red t-shirts, the members buried a replica of a corpse covered in a burial shroud.

Attached to the corpse was a sign, which read: "Jawantankuasa Khas Tuntutan Royalti Petroleum."

This was in reference to the special committee set-up by Putrajaya.

The committee on oil royalties in east coast last week determined that no petroleum was being extracted from any of the east coast states, thus negating demands for oil royalty to be paid, especially for PAS-led Kelantan.

 

'Old wine'

However, in a statement, the NGO labelled Putrajaya's exposure to that committee on petroleum royalties in Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang as merely “old wine in a new bottle”.

The Kelantan state government had also participated in another special committee specifically looking at Kelantan oil royalty demands, but R Kelantan said that committee has no legal standing.

"Whatever decision it makes is not viable and opposes the Petroleum Development Act 1974 and its agreement,” it said.

R Kelantan also issued a challenge to the federal government, state government and Petronas to cancel the 1975 Kelantan Petroleum Agreement as soon as possible.

It also stressed it was Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's father who had promised payments to the northern state in Parliament on Nov 15, 1974.

The movement's president Nazri Deraman had reproduced an alleged extract of Abdul Razak's speech as “proof” of oil royalty owed.

However under former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamed's ( left ) administration, the government ceased paying royalties from Kelantan's oil production after PAS took control of the state in 1990.

There's a total of five petroleum blocks and 44 oil wells in Kelantan waters, but even then, Kelantan remains the country second poorest state in Malaysia.

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