Lim: Kelantan asked for civil servants’ salaries

Reports by MARTIN CARVALHO, RAHIMY RAHIM and FATIMAH ZAINAL

FINANCE Minister Lim Guan Eng and PAS continue to trade barbs over the Kelantan government’s purported inability to pay its civil servants’ salaries.

Lim has come forward with “evidence” that Kelantan asked for an advance to help with its cash flow this year.

Kelantan, he said, had requested RM24.5mil to pay the salaries and emoluments of its civil servants and temporary staff this year.

“However, the Finance Ministry only approved RM22.5mil. So, the civil servants in Kelantan will be paid their salaries,” he told reporters in the lobby.

Lim also distributed a letter dated June 18 from Kelantan to the federal government, asking for the advance.

Lim and PAS MPs have been engaged in a running battle since he questioned Kelantan’s ability on Monday to take over the derailed East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project.

PAS lawmakers, including Kota Baru MP Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan who had asked if both Kelantan and Terengganu could take over the project, then demanded that Lim apologised.

Yesterday, Lim said that as of Dec 31, Kelantan had not repaid its outstanding loan of RM388mil from the federal government, making the state the highest debtor.

Financial and economic management, he said, should be done based on facts and not sentiments.

“It is hard to restore the confidence of the public and investors or to rebuild a failed state if they do not do things based on facts,” he said.

However, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said Kelantan did not beg the federal government for money.

“We (Kelantan) did not beg. There were previously financial constraints, which were due to deliberate delays to what should have been paid out,” he said.

The Marang MP said the allocation to Kelantan was supposed to have been made between March and August last year but this was only done in December.

The situation, he said, was subsequently rectified by the previous government.

Abdul Hadi said the current Pakatan Harapan administration should uphold its responsibility towards Kelantan as part of the concept of federalism.

“It is the mandatory duty of the federal government as Kelantan is part of the federation,” he added.

Earlier, when debating the Mid-Term Review on the 11th Malaysia Plan, Abdul Hadi denied that Kelantan requested money to pay the salaries of its civil servants.