All members of parliament were allowed to enter the Dewan Rakyat to participate in today’s tabling of the 2021 Budget.
The ruling was made by Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun following a request by MPs.
Due to that, the Dewan Rakyat session was delayed for 15 minutes so that all MPs could assemble in the House before Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz tabled the Budget.
The request was first made by Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and supported by Datuk Seri Bung Moktar (BN-Kinabatangan).
Many others joined in and Azhar had to explain that he had actually made the suggestion in a meeting with party whips earlier today, but the consensus was to stick to a limited number of MPs in the House.
In the end, the calls of the MPs were heeded, and all other parliamentarians were allowed in to hear the tabling of the Budget.