PN doesn’t have to follow PH over shadow budget, says youth chief

 

PN Youth chief Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden (left) said government leaders, such as economy minister Rafizi Ramli, should focus on keeping the promises made before PH came to power.

PETALING JAYA: 

Perikatan Nasional (PN) does not need to follow in Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) footsteps and prepare a shadow budget, says its youth chief Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden.

Afnan said government leaders, such as economy minister Rafizi Ramli, should not use the matter as ammunition against the opposition but instead work on fulfilling the promises they made before coming to power.

“The people want to know what the government is doing,” he said.

“(The opposition) doesn’t have to protest everything. (Rafizi’s time) may have seen protests on the streets, but we don’t have to do that,” he told FMT.

Yesterday, Rafizi took aim at the opposition’s claims that it could not prepare a shadow budget due to a lack of data.

The minister said PN could compile its own figures from the official reports tabled in Parliament every year and make projections of its own, as PH had done during its time in the opposition.

PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari had previously rejected the need to prepare a shadow budget, saying it was irrelevant and required access to the government’s revenue figures and projections.

He said the opposition only knew about the figures prepared by Treasury officials when the 2025 budget was tabled by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Meanwhile, Bachok MP Syahir Che Sulaiman claimed PH had not lived up to the promises made in the shadow budget it prepared when the coalition was in the opposition.

He said PH MPs also did not present their shadow budget for discussion in the Dewan Rakyat during their time in the opposition.

Syahir, who is also PN’s economy portfolio chief, said Rafizi should know the opposition had no access to complete data from government departments and ministries to prepare an accurate shadow budget.

“The opposition can only make budgetary strategies. We’re more than prepared to present that,” he said. - FMT