PKR president Anwar Ibrahim said he had appealed to Amanah president Mohamad Sabu and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng not to proceed with a bloc vote on Budget 2021 at the policy stage in Parliament today.
This is as he did not want to be seen as rejecting new incentives announced by Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz.
However, he vowed that they will be calling for bloc votes during the committee stage when they debate each ministry’s budget one by one.
Explaining his actions after a meeting with Pakatan Harapan MPs, Anwar said that the coalition remains opposed to Perikatan Nasional’s budget.
This as core issues such as an “unrealistic” revenue estimate had not been addressed by Zafrul.
“But what he did was to announce additional grants and allowances for frontliners, farmers, fisherfolk, etc.
“That complicates the issue, I don’t want to be seen as ignoring the fact the minister has taken some measures […] which could be more acceptable to the rakyat.
“Although Lim and Mohamad had strong views, I appealed to them, given the task, for now, we should allow it (the budget) to go on,” he told reporters at the Dewan Rakyat lobby today. – Malaysiakini