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KUALA LUMPUR: The Third Session of the Third Term of the XIV Parliament closed the curtain yesterday and the last week witnessed how the Chamber gave its “yes” to the first budget of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, despite the tough debates.
The 2021 budget, the largest in the country’s history and involved an allocation of RM322.5 billion, was presented by Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz on November 6 and debated by 82 MPs at the political stage for two weeks.
During the debating session, government and opposition supporters made several demands as a condition for their support of the budget, especially on the issue of the ‘one-time’ withdrawal from EPF Account 1 and the extension of the loan moratorium to help affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In response to suggestions from house members, Tengku Zafrul, closing the debate on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, announced some good news, including the i-Sinar program that allows the withdrawal of EPF savings from Account 1 at eight o’clock. million taxpayers.
The 2021 Supply Bill was passed at the policy stage with a majority voice vote after several deputies tried to initiate block voting failed when only 13 deputies stood up, fewer than the 15 members required.
At the committee stage, nine of the 27 ministries went through the block voting process before their allocations were approved.
It was also during the committee stage that the government proposed a reduction in the allocation for the expansion of the Department of Special Affairs (Jasa), which has been renamed the Department of Community Communications or J-Kom, from RM45 million from RM81.5 million. as initially allocated in the 2021 budget.
With the validity of the PN government still in question, each vote was crucial and the situation led to three deputies, who were under the Domestic Surveillance Order (HSO), attending Parliament seated with personal protective clothing (PPE).
The 2021 budget was finally approved by a majority of votes with 111 deputies in favor, 108 against and one absent.
During the session, Parliament also passed nine other bills, namely the Finance Bill 2020; Customs Bill (Amendment) 2020; Excise Tax (Amendment) Act 2020; Free Zones (Amendment) Bill 2020; Temporary measures for government funding (Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) (Amendment) Bill 2020; Sales Tax (Amendment) Bill 2020; Service Tax (Amendment) Bill 2020; Tax on Tourism (Amendment) Bill 2020 and Cooperative Societies Bill (Amendment) 2020.
Meanwhile, the session of Parliament was held under the new normal with only 80 deputies, 41 from the government and 39 from the opposition and independents, who were allowed to be in the Chamber at any time, but all were allowed to enter the chambers during the voting session.
He also sat for only four hours, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every day from Monday to Thursday, in addition to the fact that MPs and staff had to go to the Covid-19 detection every two weeks as a precaution due to the spread. of the epidemic.
However, there were several incidents of the usual commotion in Parliament, such as when RSN Rayer (PH-Jelutong) was ordered to leave the hall and Lim Lip Eng (PH-Kepong) was suspended for five days for ignoring Dewan’s warnings. Rakyat. Speaker and Vice President.
This followed the controversial statement by Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing (GPS-Bintulu) about Health Director General Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah.
Tiong claimed that Dr. Noor Hisham did not go to Sabah to verify the Covid-19 situation there, questioning whether the Director General of Health was ‘afraid of dying’.Called
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