KUALA LUMPUR – Warisan has accused Pakatan Harapan (PH) leaders of influencing their MPs against cooperating with the former’s representatives who opposed the “unfair” Budget 2022 in Parliament due to PH's signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government.
Warisan deputy president Datuk Darell Leiking said it can only be inferred that the PH leadership had stopped their MPs from standing with those from Warisan for the bloc vote last Thursday, leading to the budget being passed at the policy level.
The Penampang MP said this happened because PH leadership preferred the federal allocations given to constituencies held by them in exchange for support given to the government helmed by Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN).
“We saw how the opposition MPs now face backlash from their own supporters due to the unfair supply bill that was drafted just to enable the powers that be at Putrajaya to disburse the country’s consolidated funds to satisfy the wants of the biggest bloc of voters in Malaysia,” he said in a statement today.
He said it is now proven that Warisan president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal did the right thing by not signing the MoU, which would have placed Warisan in a difficult position to assert Sabah’s rights.
“The incident showed that Warisan had been prevented from being entangled in another ‘Game of Thrones’ between PN and BN.
“The purpose of debating the Supply Bill 2022 was to point out to the Ministry of Finance and prime minister whether the proposed distribution of the federal budget for the next year was acceptable to them or not.
“Many of the opposition MPs expressed their utmost dissatisfaction on the glaring disparity and unfair distribution of allocation for the non-Bumis and non-Muslims in Malaysia and the meagre sum received by Sabah and Sarawak.
“Warisan tried to open the gate for unsatisfied opposition MPs to make their stand on the matter and to act affirmatively on behalf of the people of the Federation of Malaysia who hope for their voices to be heard through their parliamentarians by asking for the division/bloc vote.
“However, this was unsuccessful because other opposition MPs who signed the MoU did not stand up along with us to reach the minimum requirement of 15 MPs,” he said.
Leiking, a former federal minister, also said that Sabahans must remain vigilant and continue to exert pressure on Umno and Bersatu for more allocations or better management of their respective state constituencies. Umno and Bersatu respectively lead BN and PN.
If state leaders of Umno and Bersatu are satisfied with the allocation given by the federal government to the state, the public should pressure the two parties’ state representatives for development in their respective constituencies.
“After all, isn’t this what both Umno and Bersatu promised to Sabahans last year?” Leiking said. – The Vibes, November 20, 2021
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