PARLIAMENT | Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim today denied rejecting any requests for opposition MPs to be granted equal allocations as government lawmakers.
Instead, Anwar said no discussions have been held on the matter raised by MPs from both sides of the House since the beginning of this current sitting.
"In principle, I do not reject giving equal allocation to the opposition as what is given to government MPs. That has been my consistent stance.
"However, the discussion process has not taken place, and instead there is a prevalent animosity. My suggestion, start the discussion," Anwar told the Dewan Rakyat during Minister's Question Time today in response to Shahidan Kassim (PN-Arau).
"If discussions can be concluded tomorrow, the day after we can approve (the funds)," quipped Anwar, who is also finance minister.
Shahidan earlier argued that it would be unjust to deny funding to opposition MPs, contrary to principles championed by Anwar's Madani government.
Past experiences
Anwar in turn insisted he never said there would be no funding for opposition MPs, unlike during the tenure of former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
"Throughout Pagoh's tenure as prime minister, the opposition did not receive any allocation, but that's okay. So Pagoh is being unjust? Is that what you (Shahidan) meant?
"You said we should not follow past experiences to deny opposition funding as that would be unfair," said Anwar.
Previously, calls for the government to channel constituency funds to opposition MPs were heard from both government backbenchers and opposition lawmakers.
Among others, Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim urged Anwar to "do the right thing" and amend legislation to make it automatic to dispense equal allocation to all lawmakers.
Hassan also cited examples of opposition MPs dealing with floods in their constituencies without any government allocation, and how it could unfairly affect their constituents. - Mkini
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