Speaker says no power to rule on Najib's FB postings

PARLIAMENT | Dewan Rakyat speaker Azhar Azizan Harun said he does not have any authority to rule on Facebook postings made by former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Najib (BN-Pekan) yesterday claimed the opposition had tried to derail the government's "Prihatin budget" that was conceived to save the economy from the Covid-19 crisis.

However, the bloc vote yesterday was on a bill to restructure Budget 2020 to facilitate the creation of new ministries when Perikatan Nasional took power. The bill on the government's Covid-19 aid was only debated on today.

Pakatan Harapan MPs accused Najib of misleading the public on the issue.

Fahmi Fadzil (Harapan-Lembah Pantai) said it showed the former PM had no idea what he was voting on yesterday.

Meanwhile, Hannah Yeoh (Harapan-Segambut), who Najib targeted yesterday, demanded a ruling against Najib for the misleading postings.

Azhar said he had not yet read what Najib wrote but noted that the standing orders did not give him any powers over matters that occurred outside the Dewan Rakyat.

"What powers do I have to correct (what was said on Facebook)?" he said.

Hanipa Maidin (Harapan-Sepang) disputed this and insisted that the speaker does have the necessary powers. Azhar requested the Amanah lawmaker write to him to prove him wrong.

Yesterday's bill, which was passed with 111 votes against 106 in bloc voting, sought to restructure Budget 2020 tabled in 2019, without additional expenses, to facilitate PN's new cabinet composition.

Whereas the debate on the bill to finance the government's RM45 billion fiscal injection for Covid-19 aid only began today. This bill will go to a vote next week.

Lim Guan Eng (Harapan-Bagan) earlier said the opposition would vote in favour of the Covid-19 aid financing bill if the amount is doubled to RM90 billion.

Najib, who maintains that the opposition had rejected the Covid-19 aid bill yesterday, said on Facebook today that Lim's demand was a "U-turn". - Mkini