PN's supply bill passed, five MPs absent

PARLIAMENT | The Supply (Reallocation of Appropriated Expenditure) Bill 2020 was passed after 111 MPs voted in favour.

There were 106 MPs who voted against it while five were absent.

The five absent MPs were Maximus Ongkili (PBS-Kota Marudu), Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Umno-Gua Musang), Wilfred Madius Tangau (Upko-Tuaran), Shafie Apdal (Warisan-Semporna) and Christina Liew (Harapan-Tawau)

There are 222 MPs, which means exactly half of the MPs voted in favour of the bill.

This was the exact same result as the vote called on July 13 to oust Mohd Ariff Md Yusof as the Dewan Rakyat speaker.

At the time, deputy speaker Mohd Rashid Hasnon could not vote as he was on speaker duty.

Hence, a cursory look at the numbers indicated that there are no changes in allegiances so far.

The Dewan Rakyat does not routinely release bloc voting results in detail.

The Supply (Reallocation of Appropriated Expenditure) Bill 2020 has sought additional funds of RM7.18 billion.

The bill will allow the government to restructure its finances to accommodate several new ministries and the dissolution of one ministry, following the change of government in March.

The bulk of the money will go to the Prime Minister's Department (RM310.62 million) followed by the new National Unity Ministry (RM240.45 million), and the Rural Development Ministry (RM189.16 million).

Protest over pre-vote break

Earlier, several Pakatan Harapan MPs voiced their displeasure after presiding Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun called for a brief recess before going to a vote.

After a voice vote failed to net conclusive results, Azhar decided on a bloc vote and ordered for the House bell to be rung for two minutes.

After the two minutes, he further called for a 10-minute break without stating a reason.

“As per the advice I have on Aug 10, 2020; I postpone the House proceedings for 10 minutes, thank you,” he said.

This led to a flurry of questions, confused looks and protests from lawmakers.

Khalid Samad (Harapan-Shah Alam) stood up to ask if the recess was called because there were “not enough people” and said such a phenomenon had “never happened” before.

Sivarasa Rasiah (Harapan-Sungai Buloh) opined that Azhar had erred in his decision.

“This vote is not valid because parliament has been adjourned.

“I hope the speaker understands this is a basic matter, the vote cannot happen,” he was heard saying.

RSN Rayer (Harapan-Jelutong) accused the Speaker of “hijacking” the Dewan Rakyat and urged Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin (Bersatu-Pagoh) to explain.

Backbencher Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan), meanwhile, jested that the speaker merely needed a break to use the bathroom.

The Dewan Rakyat livestream feed was then muted until Azhar returned to his seat to announce bloc voting results. - Mkini