Wong Chen: PMO confirms opposition MPs to get RM100k for Covid-19

CORONAVIRUS | PKR's Subang MP Wong Chen today revealed that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has agreed to channel an RM100,000 allocation each to opposition MPs to deal with the Covid-19 crisis.

This is after the Perikatan Nasional government initially cut off the annual allocation of opposition MPs, a similar policy by Pakatan Harapan when it was in power.

"We have just received an official confirmation from the Prime Minister's Office that a sum of RM100,000 has been made available to all opposition MPs to tackle the Covid-19 crisis," Wong Chen (photo) said in a Facebook post.

He also shared the confirmation email which asked opposition MPs to propose the projects or programmes that they want the federal government to fund.

Wong said he will meet with his officers on the best way to distribute the aid and also engage with state assemblypersons and community leaders under his constituency.

"We will have to also comply with government regulations on what and how we spend this.

"As such, my officers and I will be looking at the process and procedures this morning," he said.

Wong Chen had previously lamented that Harapan failed to do the right thing by ensuring equal allocation to both government and opposition MPs.

"When we won in 2018, the Harapan leadership decided to punish the then opposition by limiting their operational budget and denying them community funds.

"While Harapan MPs got RM300,000 to run our office, the opposition got only RM100,000. Then Harapan MPs received RM3.5 million to spend on our community, the opposition got a big fat zero.

"Whatever the reasons, we missed the opportunity to do the right thing, which is to provide equal resources to all elected MPs. We could have made politics less of a zero-sum game.

"Now that the tables have turned, we can expect the same if not worse, treatment from the new government," he said. - Mkini