Kuala Terengganu parliamentarian Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah asks how we can afford to buy expensive Chinese-made warships when we can't even fill the fuel tanks of our maritime law enforcement patrol boats.

He claimed that the patrol boats of the Fisheries Department and the Marine Police did not get allocations for enough fuel to let them effectively conduct patrols to monitor and control illegal encroachment by foreign fishing vessels.

Kamarul said that it is not conceivable that this is so, as without fuel for the enforcement patrols, local fishermen will have to face smaller hauls with encroachment from foreign fishing boats stealing their catch.

He lambasted the government for spending billions on four Littoral Mission Ships (LMS) from China, despite having problems to ensure adequate resources for enforcement bodies.

The purchase was announced as being part of the 14 deals amounting to RM144 billion signed during Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's recently-concluded state visit to China.

In any case, he said the answer given by the Fisheries Department and Marine Police are pathetic and inconceivable when fisherman complained to them about foreign fishermen trespassing in Malaysian waters.

"The answer was, they want to patrol, but do not have enough allocations for fuel. What kind of reason is that?" he asked, speaking to reporters in the Parliament lobby.

He claimed that the the answers were given to the fishermen by the officials from both enforcement agencies.

The Terengganu prince said the government could spend hundred of millions on warships but not enough money on fuel to ensure the livelihood of the fishermen.

Commenting further, the Terengganu Amanah chief said that the shrinking allocation for the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry by 10 percent showed that the government did not care about fishermen and farmers.

"There are many unresolved problems, allocations cut mostly affect the poorest of the lot, which are the fishermen," he said.