Despite imperfections, Najib says third reading not right platform for BN to reject Perikatan Budget

 

The BN Backbenchers Club chairman explained that there would not be enough time for the government to amend the Supply Bill at this stage even though it was not perfect. ― Picture by Firdaus Latif

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 15 — Barisan Nasional (BN) supported Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) Budget 2021 in its third reading today so the government won’t collapse, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said.

The BN Backbenchers Club chairman explained that there would not be enough time for the government to amend the Supply Bill at this stage even though it was not perfect.

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“I understand there are those of you who are disappointed with Barisan Nasional for not rejecting today’s Supply Bill despite both our requests not perfectly executed.

“But there are only two weeks to go before 2021 starts and if the budget fails now the government will not have time to rectify it,” the Pekan MP said in a Facebook post this evening.

BN is not a component member of the PN coalition, which comprises largely of Bersatu and PAS, but has an informal agreement to cooperate. Some BN lawmakers are part of the Muhyiddin Cabinet because of this arrangement.

The former prime minister who is on trial for a number of corruption and embezzlement charges related to 1MDB, denied giving Malaysians “false hopes” by reversing his previous conditions for BN’s Budget support.

“It is not true that we gave you false hopes because there has clearly been progress in these matters. However there are still issues with implementation of this moratorium from stubborn banks,” he said.

Najib said in Parliament last month that the BN has two conditions in supporting the Budget. One was for the government to raise the withdrawal limit for Account One in the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to RM10,000; the second was for a blanket extension of the loan moratorium until next June.

He claimed the government was not in favour of BN’s EPF condition at first but relented, adding that this has benefitted eight million Malaysians.

“Category 1 is good, now we need to improve on Category 2,” he said.

Najib also claimed it is due to BN’s pressure that the government revised the moratorium conditions for the B40 low income earners and small and medium enterprises.

“We will continue to demand that the PN government keeps its promises until these two matters are resolved.

“If we do not achieve our goals and we feel cheated, BN still has time to do something about it. However the approval of the Supply Bill is not the right platform because of the time constraints before the year 2021 begins,” he added.

Despite all the speculation and drama in the last few weeks, the PN government’s Budget 2021 was passed 111-108 in its third reading in the Dewan Rakyat today. - malaymail