Palace, Pat Lah and the Petroringgit.......

Terengganu is an oil producing state of Malaysia, and Pat Lah will do anything within his power to see that the state is ruled by UMNO. Pat Lah wants a Menteri Besar(MB) who will kowtow to his needs, even to the extent that he has to go against the wishes of the Palace. In short Pat Lah need Idris Jusoh badly as MB so that Idris Jusoh will continue to be partners in crime with Pat Lah plundering Terengganu's petroringgit.

Petro-money means alot to Pat Lah and UMNO, since Terengganu has being denied of its oil royalty payment, pending a court case filed by the former PAS government against Petronas. When PAS was in power in 1999, the oil royalty payment, over RM 800 million per year, was no longer given as payment to the Terengganu state government coffer as what the previous Wan Mokhtar's government used to enjoy.

It was changed to "wang ehsan" or gift payment, given by the Federal government to the the representative of its interest in the state. The parties that benefited are the UMNO liasion heads of Terengganu during the PAS rule and later to the UMNO MB, Idris Jusoh and his goons when BN took over in 2004. During the wang ehsan transaction many of these UMNO liasion heads became instant millionaires as a result of mismanagement and misappropriation of the wang ehsan distributions.

Some inside sources are asking the whereabouts of RM 3 billion of the wang ehsan that is still not being used and it is rumoured that about RM580 million of this wang ehsan is being stashed away in Idris Jusoh's oversea bank account. This info was leaked to the istana and from then its history....

When Idris Jusoh became MB, he demanded that the oil royalty be reinstated but to no avail. However, the royalty payments was later put to a different use i.e organizing the Monsoon Cup, that eventually turned out to be an annual event for the rich and famous. The mastermind behind this project is none other then Pat Lah's SIL,Khairy Jamaluddin and his crony businessman friend that goes by the name of Patrick Badawi who is now purported to be in control of the oil money? Patrick Badawi is too powerful and could insist on any projects he wants in the state without going thru proper channel or procedure, making Idris Jusoh look like a fool or a lame duck MB. This infuriated the istana as its petroringgit is being gobbled by Pat Lah's cronies while the poor rakyat suffers in pain. Read here , here,here and here.

Sensing that Idris Jusoh is only a pawn in Pat Lah and Patrick Badawi's cunning game of intrigue and deceit, the istana decided that a new MB should be appointed to replace Idris Jusoh.The same happened in Perlis when Shahidan Kassim was quietly asked to leave. But the only difference is that Shahidan Kassim didnt get enough support from the Perlis ADUN, while Idris Jusoh has the backing of 22 ADUN. Probably these ADUN are indebted to Idris Jusoh for the many thing Idris Jusoh has done for them. To make sure that these obligations are not cut off, the 22 ADUN got to make sure that Idris Jusoh gets the MB post with the full backing from Pat Lah and Patrick Badawi.

The istana is bent on appointing Ahmad Said as MB but for Pat Lah to sack him from UMNO, on the very day of his appointment as a move to stop him from becoming MB shows that Pat Lah and UMNO puts their own interest above the rakyat of Terengganu.

According to Pat Lah, should Ahmad be sworn in as MB, it would be "unconstitutional". Constitution expert Prof Abdul Aziz Bari pointed out the appointment of Ahmad, depending on the contents of the letter issued by the palace, was effective. The swearing in ceremony and all other rituals, in his opinion, are just there to clothe the decision of the palace, he told Malaysiakini. He also said that the unhappy BN assemblymen would have to wait for the first sitting of the assembly in order to pass a motion of no confidence against the party-less Ahmad.

“In such circumstance, the sultan or the regency council would then have to name another person who enjoys the support of the majority of the elected representatives or call for a snap state election,” he said.

He said that although there would be no state government to request for a dissolution, the palace can still call for a state poll based on the sultan's reserve powers.

There seems to be no winner in the current turmoil. While the istana having made a choice of Ahmad Said, only to see him being expelled from UMNO nor there is a possibilty of Pat Lah backing down. Revolting against the wishes of a ruler is 'menderhaka'. But its OK for UMNO to do so and Pat Lah is deem to be the next Hang Jebat. Waiting to see Hishamuddin unsheathing his keris sang saka in defence of ketuanan Melayu...and where is Khairy Jamaluddin & his UMNO youth mat rempit goons when UMNO is threatening the Malay sultanate of Terengganu....read here,here and here.

This stalemate might lead to a fresh elections to be called sooner or later. If so this happens my only wish is to see Idris Jusoh and his UMNO goons get trashed for good.

cheers.