Stop with indirect threats over budget, Pejuang tells Zafrul

 

Parti Pejuang Tanah Air has blasted Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz for claiming that the salaries of civil servants and frontliners will not be able to be paid if the Budget 2021 is not approved.

"We see the statement as threatening and inappropriate intimidation of civil servants, frontline officers and people as a whole.

"The finance minister seems to be afraid the budget will be rejected and seems to have resorted to making indirect threats to ensure that this weak budget is approved," Pejuang's legal team said in a statement today.

Pejuang also cited academicians Muhammad Fathi Yusof and Shamrahayu Aziz, who had backed Zafrul's statement, accompanied by infographics and press releases in the mainstream media.

"The government and the academicians need to respect the constitutional rights and duties of Members of Parliament by not making unnecessary threats.

"The Dewan Rakyat is the highest stage of debate for MPs to represent the voice of the common people. The right of MPs to reject or support a proposed budget is a guaranteed constitutional right, which should not be denied.

"BN MPs rejected the 2019 and 2020 budgets presented by Pakatan Harapan government on grounds that it has a lot of gaps. So, this is nothing new," the Pejuang team said.

They said the rejection of the Budget 2021 is not a barrier to the payment of civil servants' salaries. However, it can be the trigger for the fall of the Perikatan Nasional government.

"Article 102 of the Federal Constitution allows a new government to replace PN and present a new budget,” the statement said.

The legal team cited the precedent in 1999, when shortly after the finance minister presented Budget 2000 in Parliament on Oct 29, 1999, then prime minister (and current Pejuang leader) Dr Mahathir Mohamad dissolved the Parliament on Nov 11, 1999, before the House could pass the budget.

The budget was only re-tabled and passed after the general election and the government finances operated normally in the following year, they added.

"We urge the National Alliance government to stop hiding behind civil servants and frontline officers for the sake of political survival," said the legal team, demanding an immediate end to what it called "unnecessary threats". - Mkini