This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on April 23, 2018 - April 29, 2018

AFTER more than two decades under PAS, Kelantan has developed a unique flavour of what a state under an Islamic administration could be like.

Visitors pass a mosque every other mile, but few realise the state — dubbed the “Verandah of Mecca” — is also home to other record-breaking religious sites, including the second largest sleeping Buddha statue in the world.

However, some argue that the state government places too much emphasis on moral and religious issues. For example, Muslims are fined for what the authorities call inappropriate dressing when there are other concerns that need attention.

While the development of Kota Baru, its capital city, is not far behind that of Kuantan or Kuala Terengganu, Kelantan is the only state still without a connecting highway of the standard seen in the rest of the peninsula.

Highway projects initiated by the state government since 2012 have faced multiple hiccups.

And there has been no clear indication on the extension of the East Coast Expressway, a federal government project, which runs from Karak in Pahang and currently ends at Kuala Terengganu.

The massive floods in 2014, which crippled almost half of Kelantan’s railway network, have left a lingering public debate as to whether the aftermath could have been better managed by the authorities.

Local youth who spoke with The Edge complained that “there is not enough infrastructure development and career opportunities in Kelantan”. Ironically, the state produces one of the highest number of graduates among all the states.

Nevertheless, Kelantan closely trails Terengganu in terms of infrastructure development, being part of the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) initiative kick-started in 2007.

To the people in Terengganu who spoke to The Edge, the Kelantanese are seen as richer than folk in neighbouring states. A Kelantan government executive committee member agrees with this view.

“The state government does not have the money, the rakyat do,” says PAS Kelantan election director Zulkifli Mamat.

An accountant by training, Zulkifli, 60, also agreed with the stereotype that Kelantanese are largely business-minded, opting for entrepreneurship at home, unlike the people of neighbouring states who tend to leave home to seek jobs elsewhere.

The state government has launched various schemes to encourage the people to venture into agribusiness, manufacturing and tourism, he says.

While industries like manufacturing and oil and gas development have started to make inroads here, through the ECER, there are clear signs of private wealth in the state.

Along the rural roads, huge bungalows erected between oil palm plantations and rice fields are common and hard to miss. Confidence in the purchasing power of the Kelantanese is seen in the presence of retailers such as AEON and Mydin, which have set up some of their biggest malls in Kota Baru.

So why is the state government’s cash flow so tight, so much so that last year it had to seek an additional allocation from Putrajaya to meet its operating expenditure, including emoluments? (The loan has since been repaid.)

“The restrictions on state provisions are not much different from Tun Mahathir’s time,” Zulkifli says.

In 2016, the Kelantan Menteri Besar’s office achieved a 99% score for its Financial Management Performance based on the Accountability Index in the 2016 Auditor-General’s Report, beating Selangor (96.2%) and Pulau Pinang (96.16%).

The next year, it achieved a 13.9% year-on-year increase in state revenue collection to RM566.52 million, which helped it achieve a budget surplus of RM38.76 million from a deficit of RM33.47 million in 2016.

Interestingly, opposition-controlled states — Kelantan, Selangor and Pulau Pinang — have a Federal Development Department (JPP) under the Implementation Coordination Unit within the Prime Minister’s Department.

Putrajaya does not channel state funds, such as oil royalty, directly to the state government but through JPP, which opposition officials say serves to provide guidance on how much should be channelled to the state government.

To quote the JPP Kelantan website: “The establishment of JPP was to take over tasks and roles of the Kelantan State Development Office as the main coordinating and observing agency, engaging the federal development projects within the State of Kelantan.

“Moreover, the Kelantan Federal Development Office’s establishment is intended to ensure the proper control upon federal projects started, from planning to perfectly managed project appraisal,” the website states.

In addition to having a “middleman” to facilitiate state funds, Zulkifli says the state government also faces constraints in implementing changes and development projects “because we have federal laws that govern us”.

“For foreign investments to come here, they must first go through the Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

“We have wanted to upgrade our only airport here to international status for the longest time, but no permission has been given by the federal agency,” says Zulkifli, referring to the Sultan Ismail Petra airport in Pengkalan Chepa, Kota Baru.

The airport — currently the ninth busiest domestic airport in the country — seems frozen in time. With a new terminal last introduced in 2002, it now handles over two million passengers annually, way over its capacity of 1.5 million.

“Only if they [the federal agencies] want the same things we do, will these proposals pass. They are the gate keeper. We only take care of a Menteri Besar seat, which comes with extremely limited power that is confined to governing the state,” says Zulkifli.

In 2013, Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed told the state assembly that the airport will be given international status. In February this year, JPP Kelantan director says that the three-year expansion project will kick-start in July this year.

As it is, those opposed to the federal government — including Pakatan Harapan component Parti Amanah Negara and PAS itself — are hoping to retain the 5% oil royalty allegedly held back by JPP, to significantly improve the state’s balance sheet if they govern post-GE14.

Meanwhile, the top guns of Barisan Nasional, who recently visited the state, were upbeat about recent developments, such as the East Coast Rail Link project and new hospitals such as the one in Kuala Krai.

More promises were made for the long-awaited airport expansion and new highways, better federal roads, new stadium, better tourism facilities — some of which were the same promises made by themselves, and by the PAS-led state government, in the distant past.

Despite the development play, it is undeniable that BN itself has not disregarded the closeness of Kelantanese with Islam, which people argue the state government focuses on “too much”.

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