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PETALING JAYA: A PKR MP is urging his fellow opposition MPs not to blindly vote “yes” to the upcoming 2021 Budget, but to use their influence to push through reforms.
Subang MP Wong Chen (Photo) He said that while there might be people in the Opposition who want to make sure the country has the financial resources to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, they should also make sure the 2021 Budget is not used simply to prop up the current Cabinet.
“I would suggest that Pakatan Harapan leaders consider using the Budget vote to negotiate much-needed democratic reforms.
“No less than three days ago, the same prime minister had tried to chain Parliament with the Emergency measure. Fortunately, the rulers in their collective wisdom rejected the measure and saved democracy.
“So isn’t it a bit crazy to rush to offer an olive branch with budget vote to the same prime minister immediately after his failed emergency maneuver?” He posted on Facebook on Wednesday (Oct 28).
Wong also said that since Umno had said that he would continue to support Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, he did not need the support of the Opposition to pass the Budget.
“If Umno is true to his words, Perikatan Nasional no longer needs opposition votes for the budget,” he said.
However, he also warned that Malaysian politics were full of surprises and Umno could always back down from his support, while some in the Opposition could also turn out to be “wolves in sheep’s clothing”.
“The parliamentary convention requires that if a government is defeated on a money bill, it has no choice but to resign.
“The budget vote is the mother of all money bills. If the prime minister loses this vote, he has to resign and his government will collapse, “Wong suggested.
Since Dewan Rakyat President Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun had already stated that a vote of no confidence could only occur in Parliament with the support of the government’s law minister, Wong said that the budget vote was the only weapon that it was left to the opposition “to test the legitimacy of the government.”
“We should consider using this as a very important bargaining chip to get some much-needed reforms to save democracy.
“At the top of my list of democratic reforms is granting an unlimited right to the Opposition to present a vote of no confidence in Parliament.
“The second is a commitment signed by the Cabinet to pass the Law on Parliamentary Services in the March 2021 session to make Parliament financially and administratively independent from executive control,” he said.
Wong noted that the opposition has more than a month to carry out its plan, as the final vote on the 2021 budget will take place on December 10.
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