Amanah president Mohamad Sabu today sarcastically remarked that the opposition should support the 2021 budget and the RM80 million allocated to the Special Affairs Department (JASA) so the rakyat will reject the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government at the polls.
Mohamad (PH-Kota Raja) said this in the Dewan Rakyat after opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim (PH-Port Dickson) stated that the finance minister was a “political victim” for allocating some RM81,549,200 to the propaganda unit.
“You (Tengku Zafrul Aziz) can give any excuses, but the reality is that people are suffering. But you speak about sympathy for frontliners and other aid for fishermen and farmers.
“But to clean up political dirt, you give RM81 million, and the allocation should not be approved,” Anwar said while debating the budget proposals, tabled last Friday.
Mohamad, fondly known as Mat Sabu, sarcastically disagreed with Anwar, saying the RM81 million is needed for the PN government’s survival.
He remarked that PN had succeeded in creating a Malay Muslim government without Anwar and DAP.
“This is to create Malay supremacy – Ketuanan Melayu. Aren’t they following America on white supremacy that is rejected by the (US) voters?
“So, we should support this budget, so that in the coming elections, with the money allocated for their propaganda agenda, the voters will reject this government,” he said.
But Anwar said the allocation is huge. “If the finance minister approved RM8,000, we can agree.”
He pointed out that rakyat are suffering and it is “extremely cruel” to take money amounting to more than RM81 million for the unit.
JASA was formed to explain the government initiatives and programmes but it turned into a political propaganda unit under the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration and was used by Umno to attack the opposition.
The unit was dissolved after Pakatan Harapan took over Putrajaya in 2018.
Some 300 civil servants who served under JASA were absorbed into other departments and ministries, while the services of its mostly political contract staff were terminated. – FMT