Perikatan Nasional (PN) lawmakers have taken the government to task for not allocating any constituency funds to opposition MPs in the re-tabling of Budget 2023.
Both Arau MP Shahidan Kassim (above) and Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal said it is unfair for the government to not provide equal funding for parliamentarians from the opposition bloc.
Speaking to reporters at the lobby of the Parliament today, Shahidan lambasted the government for denying the rights of opposition MPs to provide for their constituents.
“There is nothing for the opposition. We are representatives of the people. Why is this happening?
“Most of the countries in the world do not care whether you are from the opposition or the government. The funds will be allocated for you to provide for the people from your constituency.
“If they want to punish the opposition, the government should just do away with the opposition. We are not asking for pocket money but money for the people,” he said.
Previously, it was reported that Kota Bharu MP Takiyuddin Hassan had urged Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to abide by Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto, which pledged to provide equal constituency development funds to all MPs across the political divide.
From the budget of RM388.1 billion announced by Anwar, almost three-quarters of it (RM289.1 billion) will be allocated for operational expenditure, and RM99 billion for development expenditure.
However, Shahidan said that there was no point to it as the opposition MPs would not be able to serve their constituents to their fullest capabilities.
“The people’s money is being distributed unfairly. The opposition won’t receive a single sen.
“This is definitely putting pressure on us,” he said, adding that this was one aspect of the revised budget that he strongly disagreed with.
Shahidan said the opposition MPs will raise their grievances about the budget during the debate session - which commences on Monday.
“If it (certain aspects of the budget) is good, we will support it but if it is not, we will debate it.
‘Details please, Anwar’
“We will continue to act as a check and balance to the government,” the former minister stated.
Wan Ahmad Fayhsal also shared Shahidan’s sentiments, where the former expressed disappointment over Harapan for not fulfilling its pledge in its manifesto.
“As a reformist, Anwar should be fair in this matter. Even in the Harapan manifesto, it mentioned equal allocation for all MPs but there was nothing,” the PN Youth chief said briefly.
In related news, Wan Ahmad Fayhsal also commented that the government has not come up with a clear way of finding new sources of revenue.
“In general, I think the budget is good. It serves the right purpose at the right time, with a bit of measure here and there but there are still some missing details.
“We hope to get it from the prime minister, who is also the finance minister, in the coming two weeks.” - Mkini
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