Amanah Youth urges all opposition parties to hold talks on new cooperation

 

Amanah Youth chief Shazni Munir Mohd Ithnin (photo, above) has called upon all opposition parties to hold talks and work out terms for their new cooperation.

This came after Perikatan Nasional (PN) passed all the budgets of 11 ministries in the Dewan Rakyat, as of today, during the committee stages by way of a voice vote or bloc vote.

"The opposition's failure to reject the budget at the committee stage indicates that what had been said in the past failed to materialise. In fact, in every bloc voting that was called, Pakatan Harapan and other opposition parties only managed to secure 95 to 97 votes," Shazni Muni said in a statement today.

"Although this is frustrating, with the people having placed high hopes for the budget to be rejected, we are optimistic that a new momentum and strength can be built, despite all the opposition parties focused on defeating the PN, which is clearly unable to relieve the people from the hardship due to (the economic fallout from) Covid-19.

"With that in mind, we urge all the opposition factions from Amanah, PKR and DAP, together with Warisan, Upko, PSB (Parti Sarawak Bersatu), Muda and Pejuang, to return to the negotiation table and discuss the terms for a new cooperation, and at the same time, to restore public confidence in the opposition," Shazni Muni added.

The opposition has not been seen to be united in their stance where Budget 2021 is concerned. On Nov 26, Pakatan Harapan failed in its bloc voting gambit, resulting in the Budget 2021 being passed during the policy stage, by way of voice votes.

Beginning this week, the government sought MPs to approve the budget for all ministries and thus far has passed the allocations for 11 ministries.

Warisan lawmakers have been absent from the voting process to display their frustration with opposition leader and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, who failed to push for the bloc voting during the policy stage last Thursday.

Harapan and its allies have been embroiled in a leadership tussle ever since its government collapsed in February.

PKR has insisted that its president remains the front’s prime minister candidate while Warisan previously backed Dr Mahathir Mohamad. - Mkini