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PETALING JAYA: DAP parliamentary whip Anthony Loke Siew Fook has tried to clear the air on the decision made by a large majority of opposition MPs by opting against the individual vote for the approval of the 2021 budget at the stage politics today.
Loke said that if the opposition stopped passing the budget at the political stage, Perikatan Nasional (PN) would play on sentiments by accusing them of disobeying the King’s advice and even causing civil service salaries not to be paid, among other things. .
“I understand that many members and supporters of the DAP are very disappointed with this decision and have criticized our actions.
I apologize publicly if they feel that this was a wrong decision, “he said today in a statement, adding that he will assume full responsibility for having ordered the DAP deputies not to stand up and request a block vote.
He said that this decision did not mean that the opposition supported the entire budget.
“There are things that we can agree on and support, like the payment of salaries to civil servants, special allowances for the front line, cash assistance to the people, salary subsidies for employers.
“However, there are also many allocations that we reject, such as the 85 million ringgit allocation for JASA, cutting allocations for schools and other issues raised by the opposition MPs,” he said.
He added that the opposition will request a block vote to reject the assignment for the communications and multimedia ministry, since JASA is an agency under the ministry.
He said opposition parties will continue to fight in the committee stage debate on the budget starting Monday.
