FOR more than 30 years, the PAS-led government in Kelantan has failed and been irresponsible towards its people as the state continues to regress, opposition members and activists said.

They told The Malaysian Insight there were many issues that could not be resolved by the Islamist party despite its 32-years of rule in Kelantan.

They said problems such as neglected road infrastructure, annual floods, clean water supply, lack of job opportunities, rampant logging and social issues have only gotten worse.

They claimed that despite having a very large state budget every year, no people-oriented programmes are implemented, especially in terms of economic development to benefit its people.

“In the state legislative assembly, there are no checks and balances, and the government has been very lavish in its spending.

“For example, the state budget in 2020 was RM1.1 billion, in 2021 it was RM1.57 billion and for 2022, it was RM1.1 billion. But what benefit did the people get? We do not see any improvements, especially in the agricultural sector.

“If there is a big success, it is only the aquaculture development programme in Danau Tok Uban, Pasir Mas which involves the production of 51 metric tonnes of fish. That for me is a small number and does not have any significance,” said Mohd Hishamuddin Ghazali, an activist from the Save Kelantan movement.

He added the state government’s neglect in maintaining road infrastructure had caused many road accidents in Kuala Krai and Gua Musang.

As for water woes, he said the state government had failed to solve this issue despite making a pledge in its manifesto in the last general election.

He said the anger was more intense now as the neglect continues despite PAS being part of the federal government, with many cabinet ministers appointed from Kelantan.

“We as ordinary people want PAS to be more efficient in finding funds to solve the water problem of the people of Kelantan who have been plagued by water problems since 1990.

“Likewise, the issue of severe floods in Rantau Panjang which should have been resolved with a flood mitigation project. The project was started in 1990 but is still not completed,” said Mohd Hishamuddin.

He added that Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob during a recent visit to Kelantan had announced that the federal government has approved an allocation of RM665 million for the RM1.3 billion flood mitigation project.

The state government has to find the rest of the budget.

“What are the five ministers from PAS doing in the cabinet? They could not find funds to solve the flood mitigation problem. When we asked the state government, they said it would be completed in 2024,” he said.

PAS has continuously ruled Kelantan from 1990 after winning the 8th general election.

During this period, PAS has come under heavy criticism from various parties over the state’s lack of progress and its people iving below the poverty line.

PAS responded to the criticism by saying that Kelantan was sidelined by the federal government and not given any allocation to develop the state.

PAS also claimed that their right to receive oil royalty payments was denied by the Barisan Nasional federal government.

When Pakatan Harapan took over in 2018, the Kelantan government announced that it had received an advance payment of about RM15.7 million from Putrajaya.

Kelantan also received a total of RM400 million for the last two years but PAS does not recognise it as oil royalty money.
 

Rampant deforestation

Mohd Hishamuddin however said that the state government’s performance continued to be poor despite receiving almost RM1 billion from the federal government for the payment of oil royalties.

He said with that much money, the state government could carry out economic projects that would develop the state and create employment opportunities for the locals, especially the youth.

He accused PAS of using the money for political gains, to pay state exco bonuses, to increase exco salaries and to buy brand new Mercedes cars for state excos.

He added that the PAS government had sold huge acres of state land to companies by approving logging and agricultural projects in an uncontrolled manner.

“The area of the farmland project in the approved forest reserve is three times the size of Singapore, which should translate to large revenues received by the government.”

“But now logging companies are the ones making money. For example, the government approved 7,500 acres to plant durians, what kind of business takes up so much land?”

“If the state government had been smart, it should have created a local company to develop durian plantations commercially, and get the people to cultivate the land.”

“That didn’t happen as the leaders just want to accept a one-off payment for this kind of project,” he said.
 

Many social problems

Meanwhile, Kelantan Amanah women’s chief Dr Hafidzah Mustakim said that the Kelantan people have to stand up and question the state government.

She said there were too many flaws and weaknesses under PAS which did not reflect the true leadership of an Islamic state.

She said the forest plantation project developed by the state government was only established to deceive the people.

“The name of the project is beautiful, but the fact is that they cleaned up the forest area to the point of destroying the environment, causing a lot of erosion involving rain catchment areas.”

“I want the state government to answer this matter because it is very worrying. The state government must be held responsible,” she said.”

She said Kelantan was not just poor in terms of economy but had many social problems involving women and children.

She added that women’s rights were not protected under the PAS rule, adding that only 11% of women were given the chance to lead in the state.

“We only have one woman exco in the state government. This is something that I want to emphasise.”

“Women are not defended, many single mothers are left behind by their husbands without a clear status. There are also drug problems, incest and rape.”

For Kota Baru PKR division chief Zinda Khalil Sastro Hassan, if PAS is given the opportunity to rule for another five to 10 years, he predicted that all of the forests in the state would be wiped out.

“The state government has no other initiative to get state funds other than approving logging,” he said.

He added that there was a sign of protest amongst the people in PAS’ administration.

He said although the Malay and Islamist sentiments were very strong among the people in the state, they may not be able to tolerate the state government’s weaknesses.

“People are expressing their unhappiness and dissatisfaction towards the PAS government. This was clear in the recent floods.

“They feel that the state government and the federal government did not pay attention, no help was given. From this I see that people have started to evaluate PAS leadership,” he said. – April 18, 2022.