KUALA LUMPUR – DAP assistant national organising secretary and Kota Melaka MP Khoo Poay Tiong has urged the government to be fair and provide equal constituency funding to the opposition.
Drawing murmurs in Dewan Rakyat following his suggestion, he recalled his own experience of being denied such funds when he was an opposition rep in the Melaka assembly.
He stressed that constituency funding does not depend on whether one belongs to the government or the opposition but is for the benefit of the people.
“I remember that 15 years ago, I held the position of (opposition) in Melaka’s state legislature. There was no funding, it was zero,” Khoo said in his debate on the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat today.
“At that time, a state legislator’s allowance did not exceed RM3,000. Imagine how we could have served the people,” he added.
Khoo then reminisced about a flooding incident in his constituency, which forced him to seek funds from the public to aid victims. He said that he thus empathised with the current situation experienced by the opposition.
“A number of my friends are in Parliament. They have been part of the opposition without funding,” he said.
“So I hope the circumstances can be changed, as another form of reform,” he added.
Nonetheless, Khoo opined that there must be conditions attached to constituency funding.
“The conditions are not meant to (make reps) support the government, but I suggest that we pass an act on allocations for the parliamentary areas’ development,” he said.
“This is so that we have an excellent system where constituency funds become a regularity under the law, ensuring that all MPs get funds no matter which party becomes the government,” he explained.
He added that the law could also strengthen the administration of MPs’ allocations to be more open, direct, and fair, which could minimise the likelihood of misappropriation of funds. – The Vibes, February 15, 2023
