.jpg)
By Mihar Dias (C) Copyright March 2023
Try to remember that day in May the MP seems to say.
That day on 16 May in 2018, when Malaysia's King, Sultan Muhammad V, officially pardoned Anwar, now PMX.
Then perhaps PMX may want to reconsider the government's decision not to grant a 5% oil royalty to Kelantan and Terengganu.
An MP from Pengkalan Chepa Ahmad Marzuk Shaary, recently "ungkit" or leverages on goodwill of the Sultan of Kelantan for Anwar, to try to get PMX to reconsider the decision not to grant Kelantan and Terengganu oil royalty of 5% as revealed in Budget 2023.
Ungkit mengungkit is a Malay idiom which means to dig up or rake up the past to remind someone of favours given to him and now it is only fair that the person shows his gratitude in return. Favour for favour. It's a fair request.
Ahmad Marzuk said Sultan Muhammad, during his time as Agong, had consented to release Anwar who was serving time for a sodomy conviction. He ungkit that Anwar should uphold Sultan Muhammad's decree for petroleum payments to the state of Kelantan to be fulfilled according to the agreements signed.
He also ungkit about a joint-develoment petroleum mining area reminding Anwar that the area which overlaps with Thailand, is only 145km from the Bachok beach, Kelantan.
However, "the government decided in 1996, when Anwar as then the finance minister, to move the landing to Songkhla, which is 230km away."
Ending the ungkit mengungkit, the MP of Pengkalan Chepa, delivered the punchline, "If you want to raise the dignity of the Malays, where are the Malays in Songkhla? If you want to help the hardcore poor, it should have been done in Bachok," he said during his debate on the Supply Bill 2023 in the Dewan Rakyat.
I guess it's back to the drawing board where oil royalty is concerned.
Maybe it's time to remember, ponder and act or Orang Kelate will ungkit until Doomsday the pardon that PMX received from their Sultan.
Our advice is not wait too long the Kelantan state election is just around the corner. This ungkit mengungkit may come back to haunt the government of the day soon enough.
They might yet invoke another idiom which may be more painful for PMX, "kacang lupakan kulit"!
Mihar Dias is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.