How to move forward given Budget 2021 imbroglio?

 

ADUN SPEAKS | PKR president Anwar Ibrahim might not have risen to the occasion in either defeating or mounting opposition to Budget 2021.

The opposition leader might have missed an opportunity to raise the profile and vision of Pakatan Harapan on the future of the country. In short, he allowed the illegal backdoor government a little window to legitimise itself.

The present attempts on the part of the opposition to do damage control might not simply work. Harapan has been terribly undermined in the eyes of supporters and those who believe there is a dire need for an alternative government.

Anwar’s prevarication of giving credit to the government in terms of possible changes to the budget and the last-minute advice to MPs to desist from standing up against the budget wrecked colossal damage on the integrity and reputation of the opposition.

Moral fibre was exemplified in the 13 MPs who stood up to say no to the budget. Whatever happened to the fighters in Harapan? Were they wrongly advised? Apparently, Anwar is taking the blame for what happened.

Anwar is a well-read person. He should have adhered to the famous philosophical axiom that men do not make history under circumstances of their choice but from circumstances that present themselves.

The opportunity to oppose the budget, win or lose, was something that was present for the opposition to take advantage of. They faltered except one or two who broke ranks to stand up.

It did not really matter whether Harapan had the numbers or not. The very thought of getting Umno support was nothing but hogwash.

Defeat or no defeat of the budget, there was an exciting expectation that Harapan would take the bull by its horns to loudly proclaim to the whole world that the budget was not acceptable despite the sugar coating.

I find it totally abhorrent to accept the argument of damage control, that the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government was about to bring positive changes to the budget.

Anwar said the PN government was so desperate of losing the budget that they were prepared to make major concessions. What were the major concessions?

Is reducing the money allocated to the Special Affairs Department (Jasa), a major concession? This is a laughing matter.

I am not sure whether it was Harapan or PN that was desperate. The politics of appeasement might have come from Anwar.

All kinds of arguments could be advanced to argue why the opposition declined a block vote and why they ended up supporting the budget in the policy realm.

Anwar and others are still arguing that all is not lost in the move against the budget.

The opposition has not given up the fight and is preparing to grill the government when the budget gets to the committee stage where the allocations might be considered in parts.

Yes, the government might have gone past the policy stage, but victory is still far off, or even the prospect of defeat.

The opposition is trying to convince the public not to give up, that the budget matter is still on the firing line.

I am not saying that the opposition might not have the ability to fully scrutinise the budget in its different manifestations, but whether the budget will be rejected or not remains to be seen.

Some would say that it is a foregone conclusion that the budget might see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Seriously, allowing the budget to get past the policy stage was the fault of the opposition in general and Anwar in particular.

I understand that it was the last-minute decision by Anwar that caught many MPs unprepared and confused to the extent of not going for a bloc vote. But yet, the 13 MPs stood to be counted to say no to the budget.

I am not sure how Harapan is going to move forward given this budget imbroglio.

It was only earlier this year that Harapan was ousted as a ruling party. As though this was not bad enough, the coalition seems to have fumbled on the budget badly.

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P RAMASAMY is the state assemblyperson for Perai. He is also deputy chief minister (II) of Penang. - Mkini

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.