Transport Ministry budget passes with bloc vote

 

PARLIAMENT | The Transport Ministry's allocation of RM6.05 billion under the Supply (Budget) Bill 2021 has been passed via a bloc vote at the committee stage today.

A total of 109 MPs voted to pass the ministry's budget, 94 voted against, while 17 were absent.

This is the fifth budget passed via a bloc vote, while allocations for eight other ministries, including RM7.35 billion for the Works Ministry, were passed through voice votes.

In his winding-up speech, Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong said the government has allocated RM23.3 million under Budget 2021 to cover 30 percent of the legal fees in the ongoing trial for the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Eastern Ukraine.

"The reason we are spending this cost is that this is a Malaysian aircraft.

"We want to ensure that those responsible for the crime are brought to justice," said Wee in a response to Jalaluddin Alias (BN-Jelebu).

Last month, judges hearing the case against four defendants in the downing of MH17 rejected a defence request for more time to investigate alternative explanations for the crash.

MH17 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down by a missile fired from territory held by pro-Russian rebels during fighting with Ukrainian government troops, international investigators say.

All 298 people on board were killed, two-thirds of them Dutch nationals.

After years of collecting evidence, a Dutch-led international Joint Investigation Team (JIT) last year said the missile launcher used to hit the civilian aeroplane came from a Russian army base just across the border.

The Dutch government holds Moscow responsible, and three Russians and a Ukrainian are on trial for murder.

'70 percent discount for public service vehicles summons'

Nine MPs participated in the debate on the Transport Ministry's budget and Wee noted that a number had raised the issue of financial assistance for bus drivers, taxi drivers and e-hailing operators affected by Covid-19.

Wee (photo) said while requests for monthly assistance are under the purview of the Finance Ministry, agencies under his watch had introduced measures, including assisting public service vehicle (PSV) licence holders to settle any outstanding summons.

"For example, for a total summons of RM500, they will pay only RM150," he said, adding that it was previously identified that there were some 300,000 PSV licence holders who faced difficulties in settling their outstanding summons.

"We are ready to help. We listen to the people's plight, but let them be genuine cases," he added.

Other than the discounts, Wee said the government has also agreed to allow a one-year automatic extension to PSV licence holders with vehicles that had reached the age of 10 years.

Overall, he said, the measures would assist PSV licence holders to sustain their operations or to even use their vehicles to transport goods. 

 - Mkini