'Anwar should apologise over misjudgement on budget bloc voting'

 

A DAP Youth leader has demanded a public apology from opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for his misjudgement in not opposing the Budget 2021 during the policy stage in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

Failing which, DAP Youth secretary Teh Hoong Keat said the party should consider severing its ties with PKR and disbanding Pakatan Harapan.

"In the wake of Harapan's sudden abandonment of bloc voting during the second reading, Anwar must publicly apologise to the rakyat and Harapan component parties for his misjudgement, or else DAP should be decisive to separate with PKR, disband Harapan and regroup the opposition parties," he said in a statement tonight.

Harapan has drawn flak after its attempt to push for a bloc voting failed to materialise, which resulting in the budget to be passed in a voice vote during the policy stage.

Yesterday, Anwar explained that he didn't want to appear in opposition to the new incentives by the Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, thus made a last-minute decision not to proceed with a bloc vote to oppose the budget.

Disagreeing, Teh insisted that Budget 2021 is far more significant than the previous budgets as the people had hoped that Harapan would reject the legitimacy of Muhyiddin Yassin's 'backdoor government' by rejecting the budget.

Prior to the budget voting, he said Harapan MPs had strongly criticised the budget and hinted that they would reject it.

"The outcome was embarrassing and can be said as the biggest humiliation in the Parliament that DAP has ever faced in history.

“Much to our surprise, some Harapan MPs only expressed their stance on social media after the vote and argued that they will vote in the committee stage and the third reading. We opined that this could be seen as an attempt to evade political responsibility.

"Since the MPs avoided bloc voting in the second reading, how can they convince the rakyat that they will seriously object to it during the third reading?" questioned Teh.

He said the people would not blame Harapan if it had indeed tried its best to oppose the budget.

"The rakyat would like to see Harapan’s resolute stance in resisting the 'backdoor government' instead of its embarrassing surrender," he added.

Anwar's misjudgement brought about a serious political public relations crisis that dismantled the credibility of Harapan, he said.

"If Anwar insisted that his judgment was correct, then the DAP central leaders should decisively sever ties with PKR, put a stop to the alliance to automatically disband Harapan, and only maintain minimal cooperation with opposition parties," he added.

Teh said as the largest political party in Parliament, DAP should not repeatedly compromise its core values and idealisms for the so-called big pictures.

"DAP should use our own logo in the upcoming general elections and negotiate with other political parties to form alliances and government only after an election," added Teh. - Mkini