November 05, 2009 20:52 PM

Think Positive About Compassionate Payment

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 5 (Bernama) -- The compassionate payment given to the Kelantan government should be evaluated from a positive aspect, not just politics, Datuk Mohd Nasir Ibrahim Fikri (BN- Kuala Nerus) said Thursday.

He urged Opposition leaders to show maturity by not turning it into a political issue for personal interest.

"The stubborn attitude of the PAS state government will only make Kelantan people lose what is rightly theirs.

"My fear is that the compassionate money to be received next year will be delayed if Kelantan takes the issue to the international court," he said when commenting the strong reaction by several Opposition leaders.

Nasir who was met at parliament lobby today said the leaders should look at the case of Terengganu which had also received compassionate payment.

He said the mechanism used for Terengganu and Kelantan was about the same where Terengganu first received compassionate payment before receiving oil royalties.

Datuk Mohd Jidin Shafee (BN-Setiu) believed the Prime Minister had studied all aspects including legally before announcing the compassionate payment.

"If the oil is more than three nautical miles offshore, then it belongs to the federal government.

"It is up to the Kelantan leaders to accept the payment or not," he said.

The compassionate payment to Kelantan was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak Wednesday.

Kelantan Exco member for Economy and Finance Datuk Husam Musa said the state government would appoint lawyers to study its claim and might take the issue to the international court.

He said the Kelantan government would not accept the compassionate payment as replacement for oil royalties as it contravened the Petroleum Development Act 1974.

The Statistic Department reported that Kelantan had officially claimed oil royalties amounting RM1 billion from the federal government since 2004.

-- BERNAMA

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