The budget proposal to increase the MPs’ remuneration, including allowances, will be withdrawn following objections from Pakatan parliamentarians.
KUALA LUMPUR: The proposal to increase the salary and allowances of parliamentarians as suggested in the Budget 2012 last Friday has been scrapped.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz announced this today, citing that the proposal was opposed by some leaders from Pakatan Rakyat.
Nazri said that opposition leaders like Anwar Ibrahim, Azmin Ali, Lim Guan Eng, Salahuddin Ayub and Dzulkefly Ahmad had “opened their mouths too soon” to state their opinion against the proposed allocation, as announced by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak last Friday.
This position, he said, reflected that the proposal did not garner full support from the parliamentarians.
As such, Nazri as the minister who oversees parliamentary affairs, has decided to withdraw the proposal to increase the salary and allowances of parliamentarians. He said he will convey the matter to the prime minister this Friday.
He added that he had suggested to Najib to include the proposal to increase the salary and allowances of the MPs. He said this was a last-minute addition to the 2012 budget.
He said Najib had agreed to allocate a proposed RM30 million on the condition that Nazri would be able to garner unanimous support from the parliamentarians.
Nazri said that the issue of salary and allowances of MPs has been brought up numerous times in the last seven years, adding:
“The government’s answer has (always) been that it is not the right time,” he added.
Nazri said that his proposal to Najib (to raise the salary and allowances) was based on a report by a bipartisan parliamentary committee formed last year.
The panel was headed by Deputy Speaker Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (BN). The rest of the members were Senators Idris Buang (BN) and Mumtaz Md Nawi (PAS), Batang Sadong MP Nancy Shukri (BN), Kubang Kerian MP Salahuddin Ayub (PAS), Teluk Intan MP M Manogaran (DAP), Tenom MP Raime Unggi (BN), Kulim Bandar-Baru MP Zulkifli Nordin (Independent), Hulu Selangor MP P Kamalanathan (BN), Tebrau MP Teng Boon Soon (BN), Kuala Kurau MP Ismail Said (BN), Kinabatangan MP Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN), Kuala Langat MP Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid (PKR), and Putatan MP Marcus Mojigoh (BN).
The report was completed on Oct 5, two days before the budget was unveiled.
Nazri said that it was based on this report that he convinced Najib to make the last-minute addition to the budget.
Apology to Najib
“When he read out (the part on the MPs’ allocation), the prime minister (glanced) at me. (It was as though to say) ‘I have kept my part, now you would have to deliver,’” he added.
He said that sadly he could not keep his word and had apologised to Najib.
He said that the opposition leaders who opposed the increments were big-wigs and, therefore, their opposition carried weight.
“Dzulkefly (Kuala Selangor MP and PAS central committee member) said that they needed more reasearch assistance rather than a pay rise. But I have allocated allowances for researchers, drivers and rent.
“Why should MPs who are serving the people pay rent out of their own pockets? I have been an MP for the past 16 years; I am a minister, I know what I am talking about,” he said.
He also criticised the opposition big-wigs for not being considerate to their junior MPs who are not as well-to-do as them.
“Anwar, Azmin, Lim Guan Eng are wealthy men, but they are not taking into consideration their junior MPs who are struggling to pour petrol to visit their areas,” he said.
“I hope one day there will be time to increase the MPs’ salary and allowance because it’s desired by all MPs to better serve their constitutents.”
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