KUALA LUMPUR – Amid increasing objection among lawmakers, Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz today maintained that the RM322.5 billion Budget 2021 has no political undertones.
“It is not an election budget,” he told TV3’s talk show “Money Matters” today.
“We want to see this budget approved, because this budget is the people’s budget. I hope that my colleagues in Dewan Rakyat will agree that this is a budget to help us fight Covid-19.”
Despite repeated decrees from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for Budget 2021 – tabled on November 6 – to be supported, several MPs on both sides of the aisle have voiced opposition to some of the allocation items.
Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional, for example, have warned the government that its MPs may not support Budget 2021 if their concerns are not addressed.
Some of the conditions were to allow contributors to withdraw a one-off RM10,000 from their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Account 1, as well as another loan moratorium extension, so Malaysians can weather the financial impact of the pandemic.
However, PH’s Amanah president Mohamad Sabu yesterday issued a statement, saying all his party’s MPs had agreed to not support Budget 2021, adding that this was in line with the stand made by PH’s leadership.
On the other hand, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad took a different approach, saying in Dewan Rakyat on Thursday that he and all four independent MPs under the Pejuang banner will abstain from voting on Budget 2021. – The Vibes, November 14, 2020
