PARLIAMENT | A RM200 million allocation for contract staff emoluments in the Prime Minister's Department will not be used for any political appointments, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof said.
The special functions minister was responding to opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who raised the matter during the committee stage debate of the Supply Bill 2021.
"Port Dickson (Anwar) said the emolument for contract staff amounted to RM200 million for 2021, an increase of RM181 million from the previous year," he said.
Redzuan, who is also Alor Gajah MP, clarified that Anwar incorrectly cited the increased figure.
"The allocation for contract staff emolument for 2021 only increased by RM108 million (to RM200 million), compared to RM91.5 million in 2020.
"There is no appointment of political contract staff using this allocation," he said.
Redzuan added that the contract staff emolument would be allocated for appointment in other agencies under the Prime Minister's Department, including Jakim, National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) and the Civil Defence Force.
Meanwhile, Redzuan also responded to Anwar's queries on an RM482 million or 10.7 percent overall increase to the Prime Minister's Department budget, including for special envoys to China and the Middle East.
Anwar had argued that Foreign Ministry officials could carry out the special envoy functions, but Redzuan insisted there was no overlap as they played a role to meet the country's strategic needs.
The minister said while the Perikatan Nasional cabinet is larger, with 32 ministers and 37 deputy ministers, it had also increased the number of ministries compared to the previous Pakatan Harapan administration.
The overall RM11,693,403,900 management and development expenditure and allocations for the Prime Minister's Department were later passed at the committee stage, through a bloc vote. - Mkini
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