Terengganu has some bold targets amidst much scepticism

IT ought to be one of the country’s greatest paradoxes – that oil and gas rich state Terengganu is one of the country’s poorest states. And the main culprit is without a doubt the political wrangling over the state’s major lifeline – oil royalties – and the cloak of uncertainty over its disbursement and utilisation.

There are still some outstanding issues, both legal and otherwise, involving Terengganu’s most hotly disputed oil royalty of an estimated RM1bil a year, but even as that plays out, the clearest evidence that something is amiss is that the over a million population in the state have yet to truly feel the benefits of the oil riches.