Govt of the corrupt now backed by opposition of the remorseless - Dr M

 

After failing to initiate the divisional voting at the Dewan Rakyat today due to insufficient support from opposition MPs, Langkawi MP Dr Mahathir Mohamad lamented that the opposition has failed its obligation to the people.

“When this happens, it means the government elected by the people can be toppled in the middle of its term and replaced by a backdoor government. Elections have become meaningless.

“The government that is propped up by bribes and gratification to MPs, meanwhile, is supported by the opposition MPs without a shred of remorse from breaking its promise to the people.

“This is what transpired in the Dewan Rakyat today,” he wrote in his blog today after voting on the second reading of the Budget 2021 proposal.

When the vote was called, a group of MPs tried to initiate divisional voting, which requires the backing of at least 15 MPs to start the process.

However, only 13 MPs from the opposition, mainly from Pejuang and Amanah, stood up in support for the divisional voting.

A divisional vote would have allowed each MP’s vote to be formally counted and recorded.

The budget proposal later passed its policy stage by a voice vote instead, and debates will enter the committee stage starting next week. A final vote on the budget is expected to take place in mid-December.

The vote on the budget is seen as a bellwether for MPs’ support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, as failure to get the budget passed could call his legitimacy into question.

For the record, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has vowed that the opposition will be calling for divisional or bloc votes during committee stage debates when MPs will be debating each ministry’s budget one-by-one.

The decision to call off divisional voting at the last minute today was supposedly made to stave off the perception that Pakatan Harapan is rejecting new incentives announced by Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

Meanwhile, Mahathir said Pejuang MPs have stood firm against the proposed budget because that is their obligation to the people as elected representatives.

“We are steadfast in opposing any form of corruption and we hope the people will also realise this and reject corruption too. Only by rejecting corruption can we save the country from devastation,” he said. - Mkini