What will actually happen if Budget 2021 not passed?

 

MP SPEAKS | As questions remain whether the Perikatan Nasional government is able to pass Budget 2021 with its slim majority and revolt in its ranks, they have turned back and said any defeat of the budget would have dire economic consequences. They claim that emoluments for civil servants and Covid-19 frontliners will be unpaid; whilst the government will not be able to grant assistance to the rakyat.

Any federal government budget tabled to Parliament is a supply bill, under Article 100 of the Federal Constitution. Traditionally, under the Westminster system, a defeat of a Supply Bill is equivalent to a vote of no confidence.

Thus, while speaker Azhar Azizan Harun can hide behind the standing orders of the Dewan Rakyat to stop motions of no confidence against Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin from reaching the parliamentary floor, the government cannot avoid facing a budget vote.

It is incredulous that a government that was not voted in by the rakyat delayed Parliament, not once but twice as it tries to cobble its slim majority, and did so by expanding the cabinet and then sacking technocrats and professionals in positions at government-linked companies to replace them with politicians (all as a global pandemic was raging), is now trying to cling to power by hiding behind the civil servants and the rakyat.

While the government belatedly reached out to the opposition to discuss the budget, there was no further engagement and what was tabled in Parliament was disappointing. It is not just the opposition or civil society that criticised the budget; many of the government's own backbenchers are openly unhappy with the budget.

Much has been said about almost RM90 million handed to two political platforms – Special Affairs Department (Jasa) and Penggerak Komuniti Tempatan. This would have been bad enough in another year, but for this to happen in the midst of a health and economic crisis is utterly immoral.

Malaysia could have taken a leaf from South Korea following Covid-19 or many other successful economies following crises where major restructuring of the economy took place to address inequality and poverty, as well as gearing the economy for the future. But the budget was neither here nor there.

If the government fails to pass Budget 2021 in Parliament, what will happen is either a new government that can command the majority support of the Members of Parliament will be appointed or an election will take place.

With Covid-19 numbers still worryingly high, that makes elections in the near term unlikely – nothing is to stop from a new government being formed with the majority support of the MPs.

But will the civil servants and frontliners get their salaries for next year, and will the rakyat receive their cash transfers and monetary assistance?

In 1999, shortly after the minister of finance presented Budget 2000 in Parliament, then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad dissolved the Parliament before the House could pass the budget.

The budget was only retabled and passed in December (later than the usual October / November), and the government finances operated normally in the following year.

So, if a new federal government is formed following the rejection of PN's Budget 2021, they could propose a new budget for Parliament to approve.

The onus is on the PN government to make the necessary adjustments to reflect the concerns of the rakyat to avoid a defeat of the budget bill.

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NIK NAZMI NIK AHMAD is the chief organising secretary of PKR and MP of Setiawangsa. He has authored several books in Malay and English. - Mkini

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.