HAVING been a resident of Kedah over the past two decades, I must confess that I am privy to a series of efforts by the state government to seek legitimate and equitable compensation from the Federal Government for what it viewed as a sacrifice for the benefit of the nation.
First, the state had to forego development because it had to preserve a large tract of high-grade and fertile padi fields in the state (estimated at 115,000 hectares) to help feed the nation. Second, it had to preserve its watershed areas to provide water to Perlis and Penang.
Third, there is the complicated issue of compensation for the “loss of Penang island and Province Wellesley” which some local scholars viewed should have been resolved by the Federal Government a long time ago.
This newspaper recently quoted Kedah Umno Youth information chief Syed Mohd Johan Rizal Syed Unan Mashri as urging the present state government to press on its demand for “rice royalties” from the Federal Government (“Kedah should demand rice royalties” — New Straits Times, July 27).
He said the Federal Government had lately shown that it was prepared to pay oil royalties (as high as 20 per cent) to several states such as Kelantan and Sabah.
Johan added that Kedah had “sacrificed” much to supply the entire country with rice and such “royalties” would be commensurate with the state’s status as the rice bowl of the nation.
In addition, the state is compelled to maintain more than 300,000 hectares of reserved forests in Pedu and Ulu Muda to supply water required for the state as well as Perlis and Penang.
He said he was encouraged by the recent debates in Parliament where Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had expressed the Federal Government’s commitment to pay oil royalties to some states.
Taking that as a positive sign, now is the appropriate time to press on with Kedah’s demand for compensation, he added. He urged Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, who is Kubang Pasu member of parliament, to table a motion in Parliament for the royalties to be debated.
Two years ago, the then menteri besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah told the media that the state government was “in the process of getting compensation from the Federal Government” for its “sacrifice” in having to preserve water catchment forests.
In the 10th Malaysia Plan (2011-15), the Economic Planning Unit projected that water demand in Kedah and Penang would triple over the period 1995-2020. The Ulu Muda Forest Reserve area (a vital water catchment for the Muda, Pedu and Ahning dams) supplies water to Kedah, Penang and Perlis. Water from Muda provides 80 per cent of treated water supply to Penang (a water deficit state) and 96.5 per cent to Kedah and 70 per cent to Perlis.
When economic growth triples in the Northern Corridor Economic Region by 2025, there will be an even bigger demand for water in Kedah, Penang and Perlis.
More than a decade ago, the late Datuk Dr Afifuddin Omar, a former deputy finance minister in the Barisan Nasional government, had called upon the Federal Government to pay Kedah RM1.2 billion a year as compensation because that would be the amount the state could have earned if it had been able to utilise its land to plant oil palm instead of padi.
By requiring Kedah to plant padi, the late Afifuddin said the Federal Government was able to save billions annually from rice imports.
To conclude, I observe that everyone in Kedah (leaders on both sides of the political divide, scholars, civil servants and the general public) whom I had met over the last two decades are all in complete agreement that the Federal Government should compensate the state for the sacrifice it had made all these years. It is long overdue.
The writer formerly served the Attorney-General’s Chambers before he left for private practice, the corporate sector and academia