The Dewan Rakyat has passed two more ministries’ budgets at the committee stage with voice votes.
They are for the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, and the Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Ministry.
The Lower House appeared to have a low attendance when the votes were called.
For the Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Ministry, only one MP can be heard voicing an objection.
However, Dewan Rakyat speaker Azhar Azizan Harun marked this as the vote passing “unanimously” (sebulat suara).
Earlier, the government succeeded in passing the budget for the International Trade and Industry Ministry with a bloc vote.
The government has passed eleven ministries’ budgets this week.
Four budgets have passed with a bloc vote, and seven with voice votes.
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs deputy minister Datuk Rosol Wahid delivered his winding-up speech with minimal interruption while the Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar too did not receive much interjection from the floor.
This was a stark contrast to earlier winding-up speech delivered by International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali who was sparred by former finance minister and DAP Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng, former prime minister and Parti Pejuang Tanah Aor’s Langkawi MP Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and others who disputed his ministry’s allocations.
Azmin’s ministry budget allocation was, however, narrowly passed by 110 to 104 MPs via a vote through divisions.
Six federal lawmakers were absent during the vote, which also saw the Opposition break past its previous ceiling of 95 votes for the first time today.
Altogether, the allocations of 11 ministries have been approved at the committee stage debate of Budget 2021, with four through divisions and seven with voice votes.
Allocations for 16 ministries will go through debates at the committee stage in Parliament until Dec 15.