Anwar queries Najib on RM250mil EC budget, polls soon?

Najib - closely watched by Anwar

In his debate speech on Budget 2011, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim point-blank asks Prime Minister Najib Razak if it was true that the annual allocation for the Election Commission has been raised to a whopping RM250 million from RM35 million this year.

“Why was this not included in the budget? Is it for elections?" asked Anwar

(Malaysiakini) - Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim queried the government over allegations that the Election Commission's budget will be bumped up to RM250 million next year.

He said the Pakatan Rakyat was “informed” that the EC had been told they would be given the inflated budget next year, which is nearly eight times more than this year's budget of RM35 million.

“Why was this not included in the budget? Is it for elections? Our Defence Minister may know, he is smiling as if he knows something,” Anwar said when debating the Budget 2011 in Parliament today.

The PKR adviser stressed that the government must clarify whether or not the EC's budget has indeed been increased, and if true, urged the MACC to monitor the situation to keep tabs on the situation.

Anwar, who was formerly Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, also attacked the government for the recent announcement of a RM5 billion 100-storey tower project in the city, calling it the return to the era of wasteful mega projects that bring no benefit to the man on the street.

He pointed out that it was strange for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to announce the new tower project in his budget last Friday, as such mega project announcements would be reserved for the five-year Malaysia Plans.

He noted that since Najib took over the federal administration, there has been an unhealthy expansion of centralised control by the Prime Minister's Department, indicating that either the premier does not trust the ministers he appointed to do their jobs or he wants to have more power.

Anwar said despite Najib's repeated pronouncements of transparency, the government's aversion to open tenders only proves that the BN government is finding it hard to change old habits.

“When he travels overseas, he speaks of transparency in the government but when he comes back, they go back to their old ways of robbery. There is no guarantee of transparency when they talk of mega projects.

“To quote (18th century philosopher Jean-Jacques) Rousseau, the rush to show the greatness of their empire is a sign of their collapse... we pray it is so,” he said to thumps of approval from the opposition bench.