Terengganu’s oil royalty should be the main issue for the Barisan Nasional government to answer for, said PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

The government should set up a committee and disclose all the facts to the people of Terengganu as well as clarify the conflicting statements it has made relating to the matter, he added.

hadi awang and pas “If a white paper needs to be presented, then present a white paper on this. Do it openly so that the people know the real facts of the case,” he told a press conference at the Parliament lobby yesterday.

Hadi, who is also Marang MP, recounted how the oil royalty that had served to buttress the state government’s income for decades was stopped after PAS won Terengganu in the general elections of 1999.

At different times, the Barisan government denied that it was oil royalty and gave it other names such as “special fund” and “wang ihsan”, before later returning to the original name, said Hadi.

Since the federal government had recently announced the return of the oil royalty to Terengganu after eight years, Hadi said the issue had to be explained and clarified to the people.

“We want the truth. Poverty still exists in Terengganu, whereas it can be abolished by the oil royalty. We do not want statements that are not based on reality,” he added.

He also asked whether projects such as the Islamic Park and the proposed airport in Terengganu had been funded using the oil royalty or other sources.

Is it RM1.5bil or RM2.5bil?

PAS’ research director Dzulkifli Ahmad, meanwhile, said the contradictions in the statements of government officials and ministers over the matter demand resolution.

While the Terengganu Mentri Besar Ahmad Said had claimed the federal government owes only RM1.5 billion to the state government, Dzulkifli claimed that the figure should be RM2.5 billion.

“We want it to be accounted for, each and every dollar,” said Dzulkifli.

ahmad said Said was earlier reported to have said the oil royalty was no longer an issue as the federal government had surrendered total management of the oil royalty to the state government.

“I am saddened that the opposition continues to raise irrelevant and incorrect issues,” he was reported as saying by Bernama.

Ahmad said the opposition claim that the oil royalty did not benefit the people was baseless, and explained that the BN state government had brought much development after it took over the state in the 2004 general election.

He said much of the oil royalty or special fund was channelled to education, including providing scholarships and giving free tuition. Ahmad said that various programmes had been drawn up to help the poor raise their economic standard.