Written by 
PETALING JAYA: Three opposition assemblymen in the Kelantan legislative assembly want the state government to revisit the issue of oil royalty claims by bringing the matter to the Federal Court.
In a joint statement, Syahbuddin Hashim (BN-Galas), Dr Hafidzah Mustakim (PH-Kota Lama), and Azmawi Fikri Abdul Ghani (BN-Nenggiri) highlighted the lack of follow-up action since the Kelantan state assembly rejected the Territorial Sea Act 2012 in November 2015.
“As mentioned by several MPs from the state during the sittings in the Dewan Rakyat, one of the main obstacles to these oil royalty claims is the Territorial Sea Act 2012, which the state government had rejected.
“Therefore, we urge the Kelantan government to bring the dispute over the validity of the Territorial Sea Act 2012 to the Federal Court for resolution.
“This is the best time for the Kelantan government to demonstrate its commitment to securing the oil royalty instead of using the issue to create political polemics for their own advantage,” they said.
It was previously reported that the Kelantan state assembly rejected the Territorial Sea Act on grounds that the federal government “exploited” it to limit each state’s maritime boundaries to three nautical miles.
In a Malaysiakini report from last year, then menteri besar Ahmad Yakob was quoted as saying that the act had effectively denied Kelantan its right to receive petroleum cash payments.
In February 2023, law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said said Kelantan and Terengganu were not entitled to a 5% oil royalty because the Territorial Sea Act limits states’ claims to within three nautical miles.
However, she said the federal government had allocated “wang ehsan” (goodwill payment) to Kelantan and Terengganu for petroleum produced off its coast.
Kelantan has mounted a series of unsuccessful attempts to demand that Putrajaya make oil royalty payments backdated from 2005 in accordance with a 5% oil royalty promised in an agreement in the 1970s.
In 2019, it was reported that the PAS-led Kelantan government had abandoned its nine-year oil royalty legal battle against Petronas and Putrajaya.
Ahmad was reported to have said the lawsuit was withdrawn because of the state government’s confidence in the commitment expressed by then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to distribute the oil royalty to the state government.