PAS’ Youth wing has expressed full support for Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Said’s call for the federal government to return control oil royalty monies derived from the state.

The movement’s leader Salahuddin Ayub said the oil royalties were the right of Terengganu residents in accordance with an agreement with the federal government in 1975.

"However, this accord was nullified illegally by the federal government when PAS took over Terengganu in the1999 elections," he said in a statement today.

Salahuddin said the movement rejects the federal government’s alternative to oil royalties, known as wang ehsan or goodwill funds, because it was subject to abuse.

He said over the past four years, the wang ehsan funds had been wasted on projects allegedly linked to cronies such as the hosting of the Monsoon Cup yachting extravaganza, the building of the Crystal Mosque and developments on Pulau Wang Man.

"If the government has admitted a mistake in the sacking of (former Lord President) Salleh Abbas, what’s wrong with the government admitting to their mistake in robbing the people and calling it wang ehsan ?" he asked.

On Sunday, Ahmad said that the state government had no control over the federal-funded projects in Terengganu that were financed by wang ehsan funds.

He said that some of these projects were not in tandem with the wishes of the Terengganu people.

State gov’t in the dark

Ahmad said the management of oil royalty monies from Terengganu would allow the state government to budget and plan for development projects without having to apply for funds from the federal government.

He also added that the state government did not know how much money the five percent in oil royalty monies amounted to as they are not informed.

Ahmad said ‘too many quarters’ were managing the monies and that when a ministry implemented a project ‘it does so based on its own interests’ without taking into account local needs.

"This raises problems for the state government. I am being frank here. Personally, I have been unhappy with some projects because of their high cost and lack of priority for the people.

"It is other people, not us, who make the decisions when we are the masters (in the state)," he was quoted by media reports as saying.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has yet to directly respond to Ahmad’s proposal that the oil royalty monies be returned to the state. However he claimed yesterday that the wang ehsan had benefitted the people of Terengganu.