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PETALING JAYA: DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang today questioned whether Umno MPs will split into two factions when choosing to vote for or against next year’s budget.
He said that while Umno President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi previously said that the BN’s 43 MPs will pledge their support to the 2021 budget, this did not stop Umno Vice President Khaled Nordin from declaring yesterday that MPs should support, reject or abstain from voting on the budget based on your conscience.
“Khaled suggested that Umno MPs should be allowed to break ranks with his party during the vote on Budget 2021 at Dewan Rakyat if they did not agree with the tax document,” Lim said in a statement today.
“So Umno’s 38 MPs will split into two factions, one of which will vote against the 2021 Budget and overthrow Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister?”
Iskandar Puteri’s MP also pointed out that Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah had also asked MPs to think about the interests of their constituents and not just adhere to party orders when deciding which direction to vote.
Lim said this led to BN General Secretary Annuar Musa dismissing Tengku Razaleigh’s comments as his “personal opinion” and then issuing a warning to Umno MPs that those who planned to vote against the line party members risked electoral consequences.
Lim also noted that former Prime Minister Najib Razak, in his inaugural address as the new president of the Barisan Nasional (BN) Backbenchers Club, had only expressed his conditional support for next year’s budget.
The Perikatan Nasional coalition has a slim majority in parliament and it has been speculated that MPs from Umno could vote against the budget on Thursday.
A vote against the budget can result in quick polls for the country that is fighting an increase in Covid-19 cases, which is said to be a direct result of the Sabah elections on September 26.
