TERENGGANU PKR has compiled a report detailing how the PAS government spent the RM1.28 petroleum royalty and will make it public soon.

State PKR chairman Azan Ismail told The Malaysian Insight the report would allow the people to assess whether the state government has been transparent utilising funds from the oil royalty.

“We are working hard on this and we will present the report in a comprehensible structure.

“We will announce later and we hope this report will enlighten the people.”

Azan, who is also deputy chairman of state Pakatan Harapan, wants the federal government to monitor the state’s spending of the funds.

This is to ensure the people’s welfare and the state’s development are not neglected, he said.

This is the first time the PAS government has been given direct access to the funds.

When the Islamist party took over Terengganu for the first time after the 1999 general election, the then Barisan Nasional federal government channelled the funding through its controlled committee, as it was worried the money would be used to strengthen the opposition.

It was then reimbursed as goodwill payment when the state fell back into the hands of BN in the next general election and allowed to be invested in the Terengganu Investment Authority.

When PH took over Putrajaya in the last general election, PAS, which won the state in the same election, was promised direct access to the oil royalty.

The PAS administration, led by Menteri Besar Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, received the first tranche of royalty payments for 2018 and 2019. The next balance of payment is expected in September.

Flushed with funds but people still poor

Azan also asked why poverty remains a problem despite the royalty payment.

Many state policies ae not focused on eradicating poverty, with no proper development blueprint on addressing the problem, he said.

Instead, Azan said, what the people are seeing now are how state PAS leaders are enjoying themselves, posting pictures of holidays abroad on social media.

“The people are watching what the state government is doing and every time, the state government says there is no money.

“In Kelantan, they bought luxury cars. Terengganu state excos, on the other hand, holidayed in Europe last year. They showed it off on social media. This has never happened before.”

Many programmes or policies to help the people have been discontinued by the state government, he said, including scholarships and sponsorship for programmes abroad.

“We have challenged the state government to show its finances on the royalty but it’s silent.” – February 15, 2020.